TROPIDORHYNCHUS CITREOGULARIS, —
Yellow-throated Friar-Bird.
Tropidorhynchus citreogularis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IY. p. 143; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.
Ar-dulk and Wul-loo-rat ? Aborigines of Port Essington.
Leather-neck of the Colonists of Port Essington.
Yellow-throated Friar, Colonists of New South Wales.
T h is is strictly a bird of the interior of the south-eastern portion of Australia, and is never, so far as I am
aware, found on the sea-side o f the mountain ranges. I observed it in tolerable abundance during my tour
to the Namoi; first meeting with it in the neiglibourhbod o f Brezi, whence as I descended the river to the
northward it gradually became more numerous. I killed both adult and young birds in December, the
latter of which had just left the nest, consequently the breeding-season must have been about a month
previous. The yellow colouring of the throat represented in my ‘ Synopsis o f the Birds of Australia,’ is
peculiar to the period of immaturity; in the adult this colouring is entirely wanting, and the bird is one
of the plainest-coloured species of the Australian Fauna.
Its habits and manners are very similar to those of the 'Tropidorhynchus corniculatus; like that bird it
feeds on insects, berries, fruits, and the flowers of the Eucalypti, among the smaller branches o f which it
may constantly be seen hanging and clinging in every possible variety of attitude.
In the neighbourhood of Port Essington on the north coast, a species of this form is found which precisely
resembles the present bird in every respect, except that it is about one-fifth smaller and has a rather larger
b ill; if these birds should ultimately prove to be merely varieties of each other, then the range of the species
will be very extensive indeed; in my own opinion they are distinct, but whether I am right in thus believing
or not, can only be ascertained by an increased knowledge of the productions of this vast continent.
Mr. Gilbert states that the Port Essington bird is less abundant, less active, and has not so deep a voice
as the T. argenticeps, but that the habits and manners of the two birds are precisely similar.
The adult has the whole of the upper surface, wings and tail light brown; all the under surface pale
greyish brown; bill and legs leaden olive; irides and eyelash nearly black; naked part of the face mealy
bluish lead-colour.
The young are similar to the adult, but have the feathers of the upper surface fringed with grey, and
those of the wings slightly margined with greenish yellow; the throat and sides o f the chest lemon-yellow;
face blackish, and not so mealy as in the adult.
The young of the Port Essington bird has the yellow colouring o f the throat still more extensive than in
the bird from New South Wales.
The figures represent an adult and a young bird from specimens killed on the Namoi.