_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA PUSILLA.
Little Brown Acanthiza.
_Sylvia pusilla_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. lvi.
_Motacilla pusilla_, White’s Journ., pl. in p. 257.
_Bec-fin_, Temm. Man. d’Orn. 2nd edit., tom. i. p. lxviii.
_Dwarf Warbler_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 251.—Shaw, Gen.
Zool., vol. x. p. 647.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vii. p. 134.
_Acanthiza pusilla_, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 227,
note.
The present bird is very generally dispersed over New South Wales, where
it inhabits the brushes, thickets and gardens. It is most nearly allied
to the _A. Diemenensis_, but may be distinguished from that species by
its more diminutive size, by its much shorter bill and smaller tail. It
is an active prying little bird, and spends much of its time amid the
smaller leafy branches of the trees, from among which it collects its
insect food: the tail is generally carried above the line of the body.
The nest is of a dome-shaped form and is constructed of fine dried
grasses and hairy fibres of bark, intermingled and bound together with
the hairy cocoons of a species of Lepidopterous insect, and lined with
feathers. The eggs are four or five in number, of a beautiful pearly
white, sprinkled and spotted with fine specks of reddish brown, forming
in some instances a zone near the larger end; their medium length is
eight lines and a half by six lines in breadth.
The sexes are so precisely similar in outward appearance, that
dissection must be resorted to to distinguish the one from the other.
Forehead buff, each feather edged with brown; all the upper surface and
wings brown, tinged with olive; tail reddish olive, crossed near the tip
by a narrow band of black; throat and chest greyish white, each feather
margined with black, giving that part a mottled appearance; flanks,
abdomen and under tail-coverts buff; irides brownish red; bill dark
brown; feet brown.
The Plate represents two individuals of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA DIEMENENSIS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA DIEMENENSIS, _Gould_.
Tasmanian Acanthiza.
_Acanthiza Diemenensis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 146;
and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
_Brown-tail_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.
I believe this species, like the _Acanthiza Ewingii_, to be peculiar to
Van Diemen’s Land, over the whole of which country it is rather
numerously dispersed, and where it inhabits forests and open woodlands,
but evinces a preference to low and shrub-like trees rather than to
those of a higher growth. It also frequents the gardens and shrubberies
of the colonists; it is consequently one of the commonest and one of the
best known birds of the island. Active and sprightly in its actions, it
prys about the foliage with the most scrutinizing care in search of
insects and their larvæ, which constitute its sole food. It frequently
utters a rather loud harsh note, which is sometimes changed for a more
full and clear strain; still its vocal powers are by no means
conspicuous. It has a much more lengthened bill, and is altogether a
larger bird than the _Acanthiza pusilla_, whose habitat seems restricted
to the south-eastern portion of the Australian continent. The plumage of
the sexes is alike, and their size and general appearance so similar,
that without the aid of dissection it is impossible to distinguish them.
The nest of this little bird, which is usually built in a low shrub, is
rather a dense structure, being formed of grasses, fibrous roots and the
inner bark of trees, warmly lined with feathers; it is of a globular
form, with a small hole in the side near the top for an entrance, and is
very similar in appearance to that of the Common Wren, _Troglodytes
Europæus_. The eggs are four or five in number, of a beautiful pearly
bluish white, sprinkled and spotted with reddish brown. In some
instances the spots form a zone round the larger end. The medium length
of the eggs is eight lines and a half, and breadth six lines.
Independently of the task of incubating its own offspring, this species
very frequently has to perform the additional labour of hatching and
rearing the young of the Bronze Cuckoo (_Chalcites lucidus_), whose
single egg or young is often found in the nest. It is a very early
breeder, commencing in August and continuing until January, during which
period two or three broods are generally reared by each pair.
Forehead rufous brown, each feather with a crescent-shaped mark of
bright buff near its extremity and tipped with blackish brown; all the
upper surface and wings deep olive-brown; upper tail-coverts reddish
brown; tail olive-brown, crossed by a band of blackish brown; cheeks,
throat and chest greyish white, each feather margined with a broken line
of deep brown; abdomen and under tail-coverts greyish white, tinged with
rufous, which is deepest on the flanks and under tail-coverts; bill dark
brown; irides lake-red; feet brown.
The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA EWINGII: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA EWINGII, _Gould_.
Ewing’s Acanthiza.
_Acanthiza Ewingii_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., August 13, 1844.
This species of _Acanthiza_ is a native of Van Diemen’s Land, and has
been named after the Reverend Thomas James Ewing, a gentleman ardently
attached to the study of Natural History, and a sincere friend to all
who have the advantage of his acquaintance. That there were two nearly
allied species of this genus inhabiting Van Diemen’s Land was an opinion
I had entertained before my visit to that country, and I have since
ascertained that this opinion was a correct one, although I did not
reside there long enough to ascertain what difference may exist in the
habits and economy of the two birds.
The _Acanthiza Ewingii_ is more elegant in all its proportions than its
near ally, the _Acanthiza Diemenensis_, for although it is a smaller
bird, its tarsi are longer and more slender. There is also a rich brown
mark at the base of the primaries of _A. Ewingii_, which does not occur
in any other known species; the markings of the breast also are more
indistinct and clouded with blue-grey, while in _A. Diemenensis_ this
part of the plumage is lighter and more inclined to brown. I have never
seen this little bird on the continent of Australia, and I believe that
it never occurs there.
Crown of the head light brown; all the upper surface brownish olive;
wings dark brown; primaries margined at the base with sandy buff; tail
rich brown, crossed by a broad band of black near the tip; the lateral
feathers tipped with white; throat speckled black and white; under
surface pale olive; irides dark brown; bill and feet brown.
The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA UROPYGIALIS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA UROPYGIALIS, _Gould_.
Chestnut-rumped Acanthiza.
_Acanthiza uropygialis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 146;
and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
I received this new and well-marked species from New South Wales, with
the belief that it had been collected either on the Liverpool Plains or
the country immediately to the northward of them; but as there is some
degree of uncertainty as to the locality in which it was procured, a
knowledge of its true habitat would be very desirable, and I should have
been happy to have cleared up this point had it been in my power so to
do.
The chestnut colour pervading the basal half of the tail and the
tail-coverts forms a very conspicuous mark, and presents a strong
contrast to the remainder of the plumage. That its habits, actions and
economy are very similar to those of the other members of the genus
there can be no doubt, but on these points also I am compelled to
silence, no notes of any kind having been sent with the specimens.
Head, upper surface and wings brown, slightly tinged with olive; the
feather on the forehead tipped with a lighter colour; rump and upper
tail-coverts rich reddish chestnut; tail-feathers brownish black,
largely tipped with white, which on the two centre feathers is tinged
with brown; throat, chest, and centre of the abdomen greyish white;
flanks and under tail-coverts buffy white; bill and feet black.
The Plate represents the bird, which I believe to be a male, in two
different positions.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA APICALIS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA APICALIS, _Gould_.
Western Acanthiza.
_Acanthiza apicalis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., March, 1847.
_Djool-be-djoȍl-bung_, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western
Australia.
_Wren_, Colonists of Swan River.
This species, which is a native of Western Australia, is distinguished
from those immediately allied to it—_A. Diemenensis_, _pusilla_ and
_Ewingii_—by its large size, by its larger and rounder tail, by the
broad and distinct band of black which crosses the tail-feathers near
their extremities, and by their being largely tipped with white.
It occurs in great abundance in the colony of Western Australia, both at
Swan River and King George’s Sound, and is to be met with in all wooded
situations. Like the other members of the genus, it is active and
sprightly in its actions, leaping about from branch to branch with its
tail erect, and often repeating a note which very much resembles the
syllables _Gee-wo-wut_. Its stomach is somewhat muscular, and the food
consists of small insects of various kinds.
It breeds in September and October. The nest, which is usually placed in
a thickly-foliaged bush, or in a clump of the Tea-tree, is of a domed
form, with the entrance in the side, and is composed of dried grasses
and strips of Tea-tree bark, and lined with feathers. The eggs are from
three to five in number, of a flesh-white, thickly freckled with reddish
chestnut, the freckles becoming so numerous at the larger end as to form
a complete zone; their medium length is eight lines, and breadth six
lines.
The sexes are alike in plumage, but the female is somewhat smaller than
her mate.
Feathers of the forehead deep buff, edged with dark brown; all the upper
surface, wings and tail light olive-brown; tail crossed with a broad and
distinct band of brownish black near the extremity, and largely tipped
with white; upper tail-coverts tinged with rufous; throat and chest
greyish tail-coverts pale buff; white, each feather margined with black,
giving that part a mottled appearance; flanks, abdomen and under irides
light red; bill, legs and feet dark brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA PYRRHOPYGIA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA PYRRHOPYGIA, _Gould_.
Red-rumped Acanthiza.
_Acanthiza pyrrhopygia_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1847.
This species differs from the _Acanthizæ Diemenensis_, _pusilla_,
_Ewingii_, and _apicalis_, in having a shorter and more robust bill, and
in the greater depth of the red colouring on the rump and upper
tail-coverts; it also differs from the three former in having the tail
tipped with white, in which respect it assimilates to the _A. apicalis_
and _A. uropygialis_, to the former of which it is most nearly allied.
I discovered this species in the Belts of the Murray, where it inhabits
the small shrubby trees; upon first seeing it, I at once perceived that
it was a distinct species by the red colouring of the rump, which showed
very conspicuously at the distance of several yards, and also by the
peculiarity of its note. In its actions it very closely assimilates to
the other members of the genus, being an alert and quick little bird,
carrying its tail above the level of the back, and showing the red
colouring of the coverts to the greatest advantage. I succeeded in
killing both sexes, and found that they exhibit no outward difference,
and are only to be distinguished with certainty by dissection.
All the upper surface and wings olive-brown, the feathers of the
forehead margined with buff; wings brown with pale edges; throat white,
each feather margined with black; abdomen whitish; flanks pale buff;
upper tail-coverts rufous; tail olive, crossed by a broad band of black,
and tipped on the outer webs with pale olive, on the inner webs with
white; bill blackish brown, under mandible somewhat lighter; feet brown;
irides reddish brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ACANTHIZA INORNATA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ACANTHIZA INORNATA, _Gould_.
Plain-coloured Acanthiza.
_Acanthiza inornata_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 171.
_Djo-b̏ul-djo-b̏ul_, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western
Australia.
Although neither elegant in form nor characterized by any beauty of
plumage, the present little bird demands as much of our attention as any
other species of the group. Its true habitat seems to be the
south-western parts of Australia, for it is numerously dispersed over
the colony of Swan River; it is equally abundant at King George’s Sound;
and as I killed specimens on the small low islands at the mouths of
Spencer’s and St. Vincent’s Gulfs, it is most probable that its range
extends all along the coast between those localities. Independently of
its plainer colouring, the truncated form of its tail serves at once to
distinguish it from the _Acanthiza apicalis_, with which it is often
seen in company; unlike the latter bird however it does not erect its
tail, but carries it in a line with the body.
Its note is a little feeble song somewhat resembling that of the
_Maluri_. It feeds solely on minute insects of various kinds, in
searching for which it assumes the usual clinging and prying positions
of other insectivorous birds which seek their food among the leaves and
branches of shrubs and trees.
It breeds in November; the nest, which is of a domed form, being placed
in some low shrub, often in that of the jam-wood, and composed of
grasses lined with a few feathers.
The eggs are five in number, and of a white colour, slightly tinged with
greenish grey; they measure seven and a half lines long by five and a
half lines broad.
No visible difference is observable in the outward appearance of the
sexes.
All the upper surface, wings and tail olive-brown; primaries dark brown;
tail crossed by a broad band of brownish black; all the under surface
light buff; irides greenish white; bill and feet black.
The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.
[Illustration: