80 
HORN EXPEDITION—AVES. 
* 
Ajnytis fextilis, Lesson, Traite d’Orn., p. 454, pi. 67, fig 2 (1831); Sharpe, 
Brit. Mus. Cat. Bcls., Vol. VTL, p 107 (1883). 
? Afuytis 7nacrounis^ Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1847, p. 2; id., Bds. Austr., 
fol., Vol. ITT., pi. 30 (1848). 
“ Ghin-gie-willie,” Aborigines of Central Australia. 
Total 
length. 
Wing. 
Tail, 
Tarsus. 
A. 
$ 
ad. sk. 
6’2in. 
2-5 
3-2 - 
0-9 
Petermann Creek 
B. 
$ 
ad. sk. 
G’2in. 
2-5 
3-35 - 
0-95 
Petermann Creek, 
C. 
? 
ad. sk. 
Gin. 
- 2-42 - 
3-4 - 
0-95 
Lawrie’s Creek. 
D. 
? 
imm. sk. 
Gin. 
- 2-4 - 
3-3 - 
0-93 
Lawrie’s Creek. 
E. 
$ 
ad. sk. 
Gin. 
- 2-4 - 
3-3 - 
0-93 
Hermannburg. 
o 
Of the five specimens collected three are adult males, all of which are darker 
than the females; two of them have rusty-red flanks, the other, although apparently 
adult, is destitute of this colouring, as are also the females. The immature female 
has the throat whitish, remainder of the under surface of the body pale isabelliiie, 
becoming darker on the sides of the neck and breast, which are indistinctly 
streaked with white; flanks and thighs pale isabelline brown. Gould’s description 
of this species, in his folio edition of the Birds of Australia, agrees very well with 
the adult female, but his figures ai’e probably taken from young birds and are very 
misleading, for when fully adult the under surface is but slightly paler than the 
upper, and the feathers of the throat, chest, and sides of the neck in the adult 
male are distinctly streaked with white. The same author is in error in stating 
that the bird he described as A. macrounis, is the only species of the genus 
that has been discovered in Western Australia. In the text of the Voyage 
de rUranie, p. 107, Quoy and Gaimard state that they obtained the type 
specimen oi A. textilis at *“la baie des Chiens-Marins,” a fact evidently over¬ 
looked by Gould, as he gives a reference to this work both in his folio edition and 
Handbook to the Birds of Australia. The measurements given of the wing and 
tail of A. macrurus in the Handbook are clearly typographical errors; but with 
the exception of the bill, all of them are so totally at variance with those of the 
original description, that they tend to increase the doubt of A. macrurus being 
really distinct and separable from A iextilis. The only measurements given by 
Quoy and Gaimard in the original description of the latter species are—total 
* Shark Bay, West Australia. 
