The male has the head dark brown; all the upper surface grey, with a
broad streak of dark brown down the centre of each feather; wings dark
brown, with a broad patch of rich rufous crossing the primaries and
secondaries; upper tail-coverts white; tail black, the outer feathers
tipped with white; all the under surface grey, with a faint streak of
brown down each feather; under tail-coverts white, crossed near the tip
with a spot of brown; bill horn-colour at the base; irides cream-colour;
eyelash light buff; feet yellow.
The female differs only in having the head of a darker tint of brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
SITTELLA LEUCOCEPHALA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
SITTELLA LEUCOCEPHALA, _Gould_.
White-headed Sittella.
_Sittella leucocephala_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 152;
and in Syn. of Birds of Australia, Part IV.
My collection contains three specimens of this new species of
_Sittella_, two of which were received from the neighbourhood of Moreton
Bay and the other was procured during Dr. Leichardt’s overland
expedition to Port Essington, Mr. Gilbert having killed it near
Peak-Range Camp on the 27th of January 1845; the latter, which is
figured on the right-hand side of the plate, differs from the former in
the greater purity of the white colouring of the head, and in the darker
tint of the striæ which run down the centre of each of the feathers on
the breast; and it is possible that it may hereafter prove to be
distinct.
Head and neck pure white; upper surface greyish brown with darker
centres; under surface greyish white, with a stripe of brownish black
down the centre of each feather; wings dark brown, crossed by a band of
pale rusty red; tail brownish black, the middle feathers slightly, and
the outer ones largely tipped with white; upper tail-coverts white, the
lateral feathers with a patch of dark brown in the centre; under
tail-coverts brown, tipped with white; irides greenish yellow; base of
the bill, nostrils and eyelash orange-yellow.
The figures are of the natural size; the one with the white head being a
female, as ascertained by dissection.
[Illustration:
SITTELLA LEUCOPTERA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
SITTELLA LEUCOPTERA, _Gould_.
White-winged Sittella.
_Sittella leucoptera_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VII. p. 144.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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