t 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
I was not able to obtain a fully grown nestling. I watched a pair I found 
when newly hatched for more than a week, but their growth was slow, and at 
that period they showed no signs of a wattle. When I returned to the nest 
still later both were gone, and only a few shreds of the nest remained.” 
Milligan’s notes from the Stirling Ranges were restricted to a few words 
as quoted by Whitlock above : “ only tivo small companies being discovered, 
and each within a restricted area of an acre,” and he later wrote: “ Fairly 
numerous in the Wongan Hills. Breeding season . . .” with no further 
particulars. 
Gould described this species from the Interior of South Australia, and later 
explained that he first met with it on the ranges near the Upper Torrens, and 
that afterwards he met with it on Kangaroo Island and the Belts of the 
Murray. When I prepared my “ Reference List ” I accepted South Australia 
as the type locality and therefore named the Kangaroo Island subspecies. 
Examination of the Gouldian specimens in Philadelphia by Witmer Stone 
revealed the fact that a bird from Kangaroo Island had been figured by Gould, 
and therefore Verreaux called it “ type ” and Stone so considered it. At 
that time I accepted Witmer Stone’s conclusions and therefore named the 
Eyre Peninsula bird, treating the Kangaroo Island bird as typical, but I now 
regard the Upper Torrens as the correct type locality. 
A. G. Campbell wrote about the birds of Kangaroo Island noting: “ This 
beautiful bird is the only other representative of its large genus. It inhabits 
the scrub-covered moorlands not far from the sea, and the brush-like tea-tree 
that grows on the river flats. But in comparison with specimens from Nliill, 
Victoria, it is found of darker plumage, and the wings and tail are blackish 
instead of brownish. The bill, wing, and tarsus are all slightly larger. The male 
bird is distinguished by a blackish collar on the hind-neck and a darker crown.” 
Captain S. A. White has also noted on Kangaroo Island: “ Strange to 
say, more than one of the mature birds was adorned with wattles that were 
nearly white.” 
The first differentiation in connection with this species was made by 
Cabanis when he described a West Australian bird as a new species, L. occiden¬ 
tal^, on account of its smaller size and minor differences in colouring which 
might not have been constant. Gould did not accept it, but stated that it might 
be recognisable. It was, however, included by Ramsay, and I admitted it in 
my first “Handlist” but in my “ Reference ” reduced it to subspecific range 
and added three more subspecies, thus : 
Ptilotis cratitia cratitia Gould. 
South Australia. 
Ptilotis cratitia halmaturina Mathews. 
520 
