Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 723. 
Family PLOCEIDM. 
NEOCHMIA ALBIVENTER. 
WHITE-BELLIED CRIMSON FINCH. 
(Plate 577.) 
Neochmia phaeton ALBIVENTER Mathews, South Austr. Ornithologist, Vol. L, pt. n., p. 13 
April (1), 1914 : Claudio River, North Queensland. 
Neochmia ‘phaeton alhiventer Macgillivray, Emu, Vol. XV., p. 36, 1915 (egg); id,, ib., Vol. 
XVII., p. 208, 1918. 
Olstkibution. Claudio River. 
Adult male. Feathers of the fore-head, crown and back of the neck smoky-grey; mantle 
wing-coverts and innermost scapulars dull carmine with brownish-grey margins; 
a band of greyish-brown feathers across the lower back; rump and upper tail- 
coverts carmine-red ; tail-feathers dull carmine-red, the outermost pairs wa.slied on 
the inner web with dull olive ; primaries ash-grey, margined on the outer web with 
olive; lores, feathers of the eyes, cheeks, ear-coverts, tliroat, breast and sides of 
the body bright crimson-red; middle of the belly, abdomen and under tail-coverts 
white ; flanks buffy-wliite ; sides of the body with small spots of pearl-white suffused 
with pink ; under-surface of the wings ash-grey, margined on the inner web with 
whitish. Eyes light brown, bill rose-red, legs brownish, feet darker. Total 
length 117 mm. ; culmen 10, wing 50, tail 57, tarsus 16. Figured. Collected on 
the Claudie River, North Queensland, on the 19th of January, 1914, and is the 
type of the species. 
Adult female. Top of the head, neck, mantle, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts gre}ish- 
brown ; imiermost secondaries dull carmine on the outer web and olive-brown, 
slightly tinged with dull carmme, on the iimer web; primaries and outermost 
secondaries brownish-ash, margined on the outer web with oUve and narrowly 
margined with pale buff on the inner web ; rimip carmine-red ; middle tail-feather 
dull caimine, the outermost pairs dull carmine on the outer w’ob and olive sufiused 
with carmine on the inner web ; lores, feathers over the eyes, cheeks, ear-coverts, 
chin and throat carmine-red; chest and sides of the body greyish-ash ; middle of the 
belly, abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; under-surface of wings grejish-ash, 
margined on the inner web with whitish-grey. Eyes pale brown, bill crimson, base 
blue, legs and feet yellow, claws light brown. Total length 120 mm.; culmen 10, 
wing 48, tail 50. Figured. Collected on the Watson River, North Queensland, 
on the 14th of June, 1914. 
Immature. General colour of the upper-parts, includuig the wing-coverts, roddish-brown; 
secondaries fringed on the outer w’ebs vvith dull carmine; flight-feathers ash- 
brown, slightly' margined on their outer and inner webs with oUve; tail wedge- 
shaped, dull rnddish-crimson in colour; throat, sides of the face and remainder of tlie 
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