Part 17

The flight of this species is feeble and not protracted; but, on the contrary, its powers of running and creeping are very considerable.

The breeding-season probably commences in September and continues until January; its food is insects of various kinds.

The male has the head, all the under surface, wing-coverts, upper tail-coverts and tail deep velvety black; back of the neck, scapularies and remainder of the upper surface rich orange-scarlet; bill black; eyes blackish brown; feet fleshy brown.

Female brown above, paler beneath; bill brown; base of the under mandible reddish brown; feet flesh-brown.

The Plate represents male and female in the summer plumage, and a young male in change, on one of the native grasses of New South Wales.

MALURUS BROWNII: Vig. & Horsf.

J. & E. Gould del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

MALURUS BROWNII, Vig. & Horsf. Brown’s Wren.

Malurus Brownii, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 223.

Malurus cruentatus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VII. p. 143.

Among the species of which I sent home characters from New South Wales, for publication in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, was the present pretty bird, to which I gave the specific name of cruentatus; upon comparison, however, of my specimens with the Malurus Brownii in the Linnean Society’s Collection, I find they are identical, consequently my name must sink into a synonym. Mr. Brown, who was the donor of the Linnean Society’s specimen, obtained his bird near Broad Sound, on the eastern coast; while those from which my description was taken were procured on the north-west, and formed part of the collection placed at my disposal by the officers of the Beagle. It differs from Malurus melanocephalus in the more intense and deep blood-red of the back, and, as Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield justly observe, it is much less in size.

Of its habits and economy, or the situations to which it gives preference, no information has yet been obtained; but we may reasonably suppose, that two species so nearly resembling each other in structure and colour as M. Brownii and M. melanocephalus do not greatly differ in their habits.

I have lately received an account of its being common at Port Essington; and, as I have above stated, it is an inhabitant of the eastern and north-western coasts; we may consequently conclude that its range extends over the whole of the northern parts of the Australian continent.

The male in summer has the head, neck, wings, all the under surface and tail black; primaries and secondaries brown; back and shoulders fine crimson; bill black; legs fleshy brown.

The female is uniform light brown, the abdomen inclining to white; bill and feet light brown.

The Plate represents a male and female, on the Bæckia linifolia.

AMYTIS TEXTILIS: Lefs:

J. & E. Gould del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

AMYTIS TEXTILIS. Textile Wren.

Malurus textilis, Quoy et Gaim. Zool de l’Uranie, p. 107. pl. 23. fig. 1.

The birds figured in this and the following Plate differ from each other considerably in plumage, as well as in the structure of the bill, that organ in the present bird being shorter and more robust than in Amytis striatus.

Of the Textile Wren I killed and dissected many examples, but of the following I only procured a single specimen, and never met with it but in this one instance. I have considered it necessary to state this, as it would have been more satisfactory to me to have had further proofs from actual dissection and comparison, of their being really distinct, although I have little doubt that such is the case. The bird figured in the “Voyage de l’Uranie,” is doubtless referable to the one represented on the opposite Plate, while that figured by M. Lesson in the Atlas to his “Traité d’Ornithologie,” and which seems to have been the subject from which he took his generic characters and description, as clearly belongs to A. striatus.

The only place in which I observed the Textile Wren was the plains bordering the Lower Namoi; and that its range extends far to the northward and westward is certain, from the fact of the specimen figured in the “Voyage” above-quoted having been procured on the north-west coast.

In the various positions it assumes, in the elevated carriage of its tail, and in its whole economy, it bears a close resemblance to the true Maluri: like them also it wanders about in small troops of four or six in number, always keeping within a short distance, and returning towards the close of the day to its accustomed haunts. On the Lower Namoi, where it is very abundant, it is found in all those parts of the plains that are studded with scrubs and clumps of a low shrub-like tree, resembling the Barilla of the coast, through and among which it creeps with astonishing rapidity; indeed, its mode of progression on the ground is such as no description can convey an accurate conception of, and must be seen to be understood: I cannot perhaps compare it with anything, unless with the motion of an India-rubber ball when thrown forcibly along the ground. While stealing from bush to bush, with this rapid movement, its head low and tail perfectly erect, it presents an exceedingly droll appearance. Like many others of its family, it seldom employs the power of flight.

Its food is insects of various kinds.

Of its nidification I have nothing to communicate: it doubtless builds a dome-shaped nest, and in all probability lays four spotted eggs; but to these points I would call the attention of those who are favourably situated for observing them, as also to confirm or refute the opinion of this and the following bird being distinct.

All the upper surface dark brown, each feather with a narrow stripe of white down the centre; under surface the same, but much paler; flanks and under surface of the shoulder rust-red; tail dark brown, indistinctly barred with a still darker hue and edged with pale brown; irides reddish hazel; base of lower mandible bluish horn-colour; remainder of the bill black; feet flesh-brown.

The male I dissected was destitute of the rusty red colouring on the flanks and under surface of the shoulder.