This species, which frequents the brushes of the eastern parts of New
South Wales between the river Hunter and Moreton Bay, differs from the
_Campephaga Karu_ in its much greater size, in the rufous colouring of
the lower part of the abdomen and under tail-coverts, in the more
uniform grey colouring of the breast, and in the barring of this part
being much less conspicuous. I have had examples of this species in my
collection for many years, but was not fortunate enough to see it alive
during my visit to Australia. Mr. Strange has also sent me a pair which
he had shot in the scrubs on the banks of the Clarence. Its nest and
eggs, and any information of its habits, are desiderata to me.
The sexes, as in the other species, differ considerably from each other;
they may be thus described:—
The male has the head, back, wings and tail deep glossy black;
wing-coverts largely tipped and the secondaries broadly margined with
white; the two outer tail-feathers tipped with white, the external one
also narrowly margined on the outer web with the same hue; rump and
upper tail-coverts very dark grey; line over the eye snow-white; under
surface greyish white, gradually passing into rufous on the abdomen and
under tail-coverts, and indistinctly rayed with dark grey; bill, feet
and irides black.
The young male is brown where the male is black; has the wings not so
conspicuously marked with white; the under surface washed with rufous
and conspicuously rayed with brown; and the under tail-coverts deep
rufous.
The figures represent an adult male and young male of the natural size.
[Illustration:
CAMPEPHAGA HUMERALIS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
CAMPEPHAGA HUMERALIS, _Gould_.
White-shouldered Campephaga.
_Ceblepyris humeralis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 143;
and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
_Goö-mul-cül-long_, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western
Australia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account