Part 39

The young for the first year has the bill black, except at the base, where it is flesh-colour; the band across the breast and the flanks greyish brown, the latter being barred indistinctly with black and greyish white; in other respects the plumage nearly resembles the adult.

The Plate represents an adult male and a young bird of the natural size.

AMADINA CASTANOTIS: Gould.

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

AMADINA CASTANOTIS, Gould. Chestnut-eared Finch.

Amadina castanotis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 105; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.

This bird, which is nearly allied to the Bengali moucheté of Vieillot’s ‘Oiseaux Chanteurs,’ plate 3, appears to be almost peculiar to the interior of Australia; among other places it inhabits the large plains to the north of the Liverpool range, and is particularly abundant about Brezi and the banks of the river Mokai; but that it sometimes occurs on the southern side of the range, is proved by my having killed five specimens in Mr. Coxen’s Garden at Yarrundi on the Upper Hunter. It has also been found, though very sparingly, at Swan River, and a specimen is contained in the collection formed by Mr. Bynoe at Port Essington: like the Amadina Lathami, this species resorts much to the ground and feeds upon the seeds of various kinds of grasses. On the plains it congregates in small flocks, and evinces a decided preference to those spots where the trees are thinly dispersed and grasses abundant.

The Chestnut-eared Finch is one of the smallest of the genus yet discovered in Australia; it is also one of the most beautiful, and in the chasteness of its colouring can scarcely be excelled.

The two sexes differ very considerably in their markings, and may be thus described:—

The male has the crown of the head, nape and back brownish grey; wings brown; rump white; upper tail-coverts jet-black, each feather having three large and conspicuous oval spots of white; tail-feathers blackish brown slightly tinged with white at their tips; cheeks and ear-coverts reddish chestnut, separated from the bill by a narrow transverse line of white, which white line is bounded on each side by a still finer line of black; throat and chest grey, the feathers transversely marked with fine lines of black; a small black patch on the middle of the chest; abdomen white; under tail-coverts buffy white; flanks chestnut, each feather marked near the tip with two small oval spots of white; bill reddish orange; feet reddish orange, rather lighter than the bill; irides red.

The female has the transverse lines on the face, upper tail-coverts and feet, as in the male; upper surface, ear-coverts, wings, tail and flanks greyish brown; throat and chest grey, slightly tinged with brown; abdomen yellowish brown; bill reddish orange.

The figures represent both sexes of the natural size.

AMADINA GOULDIÆ: Gould.

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

AMADINA GOULDIÆ. Gouldian Finch.

Amadina Gouldiæ, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., January 23, 1844.

Novelty in itself has attractions, but when with novelty, beauty and elegance are combined, the attractions are augmented beyond measure. With this trite observation I here introduce to the notice of the ornithologist a species not only the most beautiful of the family to which it belongs, but which has its plumage adorned with colours and markings that render it conspicuously different from every other bird known; it is in fact beyond the power of my pen to describe or my pencil to portray anything like the splendour of the changeable hues of the lilac band which crosses the breast of this little gem, or the scarcely less beautiful green of the neck and golden-yellow of the breast, the latter colour being only equalled, certainly not surpassed, by the crest-feathers of the Golden Pheasant. Whenever this bird becomes so far common as to form a part of our preserved collections, or to add a living lustre to our aviaries, it cannot fail to become a general favourite. It is therefore with feelings of no ordinary nature that I have ventured to dedicate this new and lovely little bird to the memory of her, who in addition to being a most affectionate wife, for a number of years laboured so hard and so zealously assisted me with her pencil in my various works, but who, after having made a circuit of the globe with me, and braved many dangers with a courage only equalled by her virtues, and while cheerfully engaged in illustrating the present work, was by the Divine will of her Maker suddenly called from this to a brighter and better world; and I feel assured that in dedicating this bird to the memory of Mrs. Gould, I shall have the full sanction of all who were personally acquainted with her, as well as of those who only knew her by her delicate works as an artist.

A single specimen of apparently an adult male and two immature birds are all that ever came under my notice; for the former my especial thanks are due to my esteemed friend Benjamin Bynoe, Esq., Surgeon R.N., late of H.M.S. the Beagle, who obtained it in the Victoria River, on the north-west coast of Australia. The young birds were procured by Mr. Gilbert at Port Essington. These three examples are probably all that have been collected, and from the remote situation of the country of which it is a native, a long period is likely to elapse before the species becomes common.

“This would seem to be a very local species,” says Mr. Gilbert, “for I only met with it on Greenbill Island at the head of Van Diemen’s Gulf, where it inhabited the edges of the mangroves and thickets: when disturbed it invariably flew to the topmost branches of the loftiest gums, a habit I have not before observed in any other member of the genus. Its note is a very mournful sound, added to a double twit. Those I observed were feeding among the high grass in small families of from four to seven in number, and were very shy. The stomach is tolerably muscular, and the food consists of grass and other seeds.”

The adult has the forehead, lores, ear-coverts and throat, deep velvety black; from behind the eye, round the occiput, and down the sides of the neck, a mark of verdigris-green, gradually blending into the yellowish green of the upper surface and wings; across the breast a broad band of shining lilac-purple, below which all the under surface is shining wax-yellow; bill flesh-white at the base, tipped with blood-red; feet flesh-colour.

The young bird has the head grey; upper surface light olive; under surface pale buff; chin white; primaries and tail brown; irides dark brown.

The figures are of the natural size.

POËPHILA MIRABILIS: Humb: et Jacq:

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

POËPHILA MIRABILIS, Homb. et Jacq. Beautiful Grass Finch.

Poëphila mirabilis, Homb. et Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud.—O. des Murs, Icon. Orn., pl. 3. fig. 1.

Fine examples of this, one of the most lovely of the Finches yet discovered, are contained in the gallery of the Museum of Natural History of Paris; they were procured by Messrs. Hombron and Jacquinot in the neighbourhood of Raffles’ Bay, on the north coast of Australia, where it is so rare, that those gentlemen only met with three examples, and were unable to make themselves acquainted with its actions and manners. In the works above-quoted my Poëphila Gouldiæ is figured as the female of the present bird, but this I believe to be a mistake, the specimen from which my description and figure were taken being to all appearance an adult male; and as an evidence that such may be the case, I may mention that no female of the group has yet been discovered so gorgeously arrayed; the females of all the Poëphilæ I have seen resemble their respective males in the colouring of their plumage, but have all the hues much less brilliant; it is not probable therefore that a bird so gaily coloured as the P. Gouldiæ should be the female of the P. mirabilis; besides which, Mr. Gilbert procured an example of P. Gouldiæ during Dr. Leichardt’s Expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, which dissection proved to be a female, and which although similarly, was much less highly coloured than the bird I have represented.

Crown of the head and cheeks of a beautiful carmine, bounded posteriorly by a narrow line of black; throat black; to this succeeds a band of pale blue, narrow on the throat and broad on the back of the neck; back and wings green, passing into yellow at the nape of the neck; breast crossed by a broad band of lilac, separated from the yellow of the abdomen by a narrow line of orange; rump and upper tail-coverts pale blue; quills brown; bill fleshy white, becoming redder at the tip; feet flesh-colour.