SITTELLA LEUCOGEPHALA, Gould.
White-headed Sittella.
Sittella leucocephala, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 152; and in Syu. 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 o f the head, and in the darker tint o f the striae 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
hand 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 s iz e ; the one with the white head being a female, as ascertained by
dissection.