WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
The Birds of Australia, Vol. 3 of 7 cover

The Birds of Australia, Vol. 3 of 7

Chapter 32: AMYTIS MACROURUS, Gould. Large-tailed Wren.
By John Gould
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Nature/Gardening/AnimalsScience - Biology

About This Book

A richly illustrated, taxonomic natural history volume cataloging numerous Australian bird species through detailed descriptions and plates. It combines morphological notes on plumage and variation with field observations of behavior, vocalizations, diet, nesting, eggs, and habitat preferences, and records geographic distribution across mainland regions, islands, and Tasmania. The author synthesizes specimen-based taxonomy with reports from collectors, distinguishes closely related forms, and documents occurrence and abundance, providing practical information on localities and natural history useful to both scientific readers and informed amateurs.

AMYTIS MACROURUS, Gould.
Large-tailed Wren.

Amytis macrourus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Jan. 27, 1847.

Nyern-de and Jee-ra, Aborigines of the interior of Western Australia.

The present is the first species of the genus that has been discovered in Western Australia; the two examples in my own collection are all that I have yet seen; these were shot in the interior by Mr. Gilbert, who states that “it inhabits the thickets, and is almost always on the ground in families of from four to seven in number: it carries its tail more erect than any other bird I have seen, and certainly no bird runs or rather hops over the surface of the ground with greater rapidity.”

It is evidently the representative of the Amytis textilis of the eastern coast, to which it is very nearly allied, but from which, as well as from the A. striatus, it may at once be distinguished by its more robust form, and by the much greater length and size of its tail.

All the upper surface brown, each feather with a narrow stripe of white down the centre; under surface the same, but much paler; under surface of the shoulder pale rusty red; tail brown, margined with pale brown; irides hazel; base of the lower mandible horn-colour, remainder of the bill black; feet flesh-brown.

The figures are of the natural size.