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Show 1866.] MR. J. GOULD ON NEW AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 217 3. Additions to the List of the Avifauna of Australia, with Descriptions of Three N e w Species. By J O H N G O U L D, Esq., F.R.S., &c. The following birds have been lately transmitted to me by my brother-in-law, Mr. Charles ("oxen of Brisbane in Queensland, and were, I believe, collected by John Jardine, Esq., late Commissioner of Crown Lands in the Cape York district, a portion of Australia so near to New Guinea and the A m Islands that we need not be surprised if some of the species prove to be identical with, or offer a close resemblance to, species previously described as inhabitants of those but partially explored islands. The first species is an additional member of those insect-loving little birds known under the generic title of Gerygone, and exhibits such strongly marked distinctive characters that it cannot for a moment be confounded with any of its allies. GERYGONE PERSONATA. Crown and all the upper surface olive-green ; throat and chest deep olive-brown; behind each nostril a spot of white; a stripe of white also descends from the base of the bill down each side of the neck, and separates the deep olive-brown of the throat from the lighter olive of the ear-coverts ; axillae, all the under surface of the body, and the under tail-coverts delicate jonquil-yellow ; wings and tail olive-brown ; hill and legs olive-black. Total length 3| inches, bill \, wing 2f, tail 1-f, tarsi f. Hab. The Cape York district of Queensland. The second bird has many characters in common with the Ptilotis % chrysotis of the south-eastern portion of Australia and the Ptilotis similis, a bird brought from Dorey by Mr. Wallace ; but it differs from both in the greater slenderness of its form, in its diminutive size, and, especially from the former, in the uniform colouring of its throat and abdomen. PTILOTIS GRACILIS. Bill deep olive-brown, with a naked yellow fleshy gape, posterior to which is an obscure narrow line of yellow; a well-defined patch of pale yellow on the ear-coverts ; crown and all the upper surface olive, the uniformity of whioh is only broken by a slight edging of wax-yellow on the outer edges of the primaries and tail-feathers; axillae and the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries pale huffy yellow ; primaries and tail-feathers brown ; feet dark olive-brown. Total length 5\ inches, bill \, wing 2\, tail 2\, tarsi f. Hab. The Cape York district of Queensland. MONARCHA ALBIVENTRIS. This Cape York bird is very nearly allied to the more southern M. trivirgata, but differs not only from that species, but from P R O C . Z O O L . SOC.--1866, N O . XV. |
