Part 33

This species also emits so very powerful an odour, that my dog frequently pointed at it from a very considerable distance.

The food, as ascertained by dissection, was small coleopterous insects, with which its minute stomach was crammed.

The nest, which is placed on the ground, is a globular structure, composed of grasses and feathers. The eggs are three or four in number, of a light chestnut colour, thickly blotched with deep chestnut-brown, particularly at the larger end.

Forehead rufous, passing into the reddish brown of the crown and upper surface, with a stripe of blackish brown down the centre of each feather; wings sandy brown; internal webs of the primaries dark brown; two centre tail-feathers reddish brown, the remainder reddish brown at the base, crossed towards the extremity with a broad band of brownish black and broadly tipped with white; over the eye a line of white; ear-coverts mingled rufous and white; throat white, gradually passing into the buff of the under surface; all the feathers of the under surface with a stripe of brownish black down their centre; bill blackish brown, lighter at the base of the under mandible; irides rufous brown; feet blackish brown.

The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size.

CHTHONICOLA MINIMA.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

CHTHONICOLA MINIMA. Little Chthonicola.

Anthus minimus, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 230.

This pretty little bird is usually seen on the ground in small companies of five or six in number, and is so very tame in disposition as to admit of the nearest approach, and when flushed merely flits off to the distance of a few yards. Its distribution, so far as we yet know, is confined to New South Wales and South Australia, in both of which countries it is a stationary and abundant species. It is very active in its actions, running, or rather hopping, with great celerity over the gravelly ridges of the ground beneath the shade of the apple- and gum-trees.

The nest is of a domed form, and is placed among withered grass in a depression of the ground, so as to be on a level with the surface, and being formed of the same material as that with which it is surrounded, it is all but impossible to discover it; the entrance is an extremely small hole close to the ground. The eggs, which are four in number, are of a light cochineal-red, with a zone of blackish brown spots at the larger end; their medium length is nine lines by seven lines in breadth.

The sexes are very similar; some individuals however are distinguished by the superciliary stripe being brown instead of white; whether this be characteristic of youth or maturity, I have not satisfactorily ascertained; I can scarcely conceive that so trivial a difference should indicate a difference of species.

General plumage olive-brown, the feathers of the back with darker centres, and of the head with a longitudinal stripe of buff down the middle of each; primaries narrowly edged with whitish; tail slightly tipped with white; under surface white, washed with yellow, each feather with a broad stripe of blackish brown down the centre, except on the middle of the abdomen, which is nearly pure white and without stripes; irides straw-yellow; bill brown; feet fleshy brown.

The figures are of the natural size.

ANTHUS AUSTRALIS: Vig. & Horsf.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

ANTHUS AUSTRALIS, Vig. & Horsf. Australian Pipit.

Anthus Australis, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 229.

——— pallescens, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 229.

Waȑ-ra-joo-lon, Aborigines of the lowlands of Western Australia.

Common Lark of the Colonists.

The Pipits, like many other of the Australian birds, are exceedingly perplexing, inasmuch as the specimens from the various colonies differ from each other considerably in size and in the length and form of the hind-claws. A more minute examination and a longer observation of them in a state of nature than my stay in the country afforded, may prove them to comprise several species, though for the present I can only regard them as mere local varieties; whatever the case may be, one thing is certain,—namely that the northern and southern regions of the country are inhabited by Pipits which bear a great resemblance to each other. Every variety of country, from the humid flats and sides of lagoons teeming with luxuriant vegetation to the hot sterile plains, are equally frequented by them; I could not fail to remark, however, that the short-toed and smaller-sized birds were most abundant on the plains. The Anthus Australis has all the habits and actions of its European prototype the Anthus aquaticus, but is still more bold and showy; its note is also very similar; it seldom flies higher than the tops of the trees, but occasionally mounts perpendicularly in the air, singing all the time; when flushed from the ground it rarely flies to any great distance before it descends again rather abruptly, to the earth, to the branch of a tree, or a small bush.

The nest is a rather deep and compactly formed structure of dried grasses; it is placed in a hole in the ground, sometimes beneath the shelter of a tuft of grass, but more frequently in a clear, open and exposed situation, the top of the nest being level with the surface. The eggs, which are three and sometimes four in number, are of a lengthened form, being eleven lines long by seven and a half lines broad, and are of a greyish white, blotched and freckled with light chestnut-brown and purplish grey, the latter colour appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell.

The breeding-season commences in the early part of September and continues until January, during which season two or three broods are reared.

The stomach is very muscular, and the food consists of insects of various kinds and small seeds.

The sexes are alike in plumage and may be described as follows:—

All the upper surface dark brown, each feather broadly margined with reddish brown; wings and two centre tail-feathers brown, margined with whitish brown; two lateral tail-feathers white, margined on the inner webs with blackish brown and with blackish brown shafts, the remaining tail-feathers blackish brown; stripe over the eye light buff; ear-coverts brown; under surface dull white, washed with buff on the under surface of the shoulder and on the under tail-coverts; the feathers of the breast, flanks and sides of the neck with a streak of dark brown down the centre, these marks being most conspicuous on the sides of the neck and across the upper part of the breast, where they are arranged in the form of a gorget, the points of which proceed upward to the angle of the lower mandible; irides very dark brown; bill and feet fleshy brown.

Freshly moulted individuals differ in having a rich tint of rufous pervading the whole of the upper surface, the breast and flanks.