SITEIXA ALBATA, Ramsay.
SITTELLA ALBATA, Ramsay.
White-wing-ed White-headed Sittella.
Sittella letico cephala, Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1875, p. 600 (n e e Gould).
— albata, Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1877, p. 3 5 1 , - I d . Proc. Linn. Soc. N . S. Wales, ii. p. 1 9 2 .
The genus Sittella contains the Australian representatives o f the Nuthatches of the northern parts of the Old
and New Worlds, and is represented on the continent o f Australia by seven species, five o f which have been
descnbed'by me; one species is found in New Guinea. It may readily be believed that a considerable
number o f specimens have passed through my hands; and it is just possible that I may have handled examples
of the present new species; but if so, I never noticed the distinction between it and Sittella lewocephata. It
would, indeed, require a careful examination o f a specimen to notice the difference between these two species-
for the white spots on the quills (instead o f reddish ones, as in S . — I are only seen on spreading
the wing. Mr. Waller, to whom I am indebted for lending me a fine specimen of Sittella albata, tells me
that be was skinning it, when the white spots on the underside o f the quills attracted his attention, as he
did not remember to have seen them in S . leacocepbala, with which species he was well acquainted. On
pointing out this difference to Mr. Ramsay, that gentleman re-examined his series, and discovered other
specimens in his possession from Port Denison, which he described in 1877 as Sittella albata
The geographical ranges o f the two species above mentioned do not seem to me to be exactly understood
as yet ; for Mr. Ramsay gives the range of S. leucocephala as the Wide-Bay district, New South Wales and
the interior province, while the new Sittella albata is said to come from Port Denison and Rockingham Bay.
I understood Mr. Waller to say that he had procured his specimens near Brisbane; and it may be possible
that S . albata ranges as far south as the neighbourhood o f that town.
Mr. Ramsay, in his paper “ On the Birds o f N.E. Queensland,” first identified the present species with
“ 4 observes that it is far from being rare there, being usually met with in open forest
country over the whole o f Northern Queensland as far as Cooktown. Its habits and actio™ and nidification
do not differ materially from those o f the other members o f the genus. The notes of all closely resemble
each other.
The following is Mr. Ramsay’s description o f the species:__
“ Head and neck, a small spot at the base o f the primaries on the underside of the wing, a band through
the wing as far as the ninth quill, the upper tail-coverts, and the tips o f all the tail-feathers except the centre
two snow-white, under surface ashy white, with a broad dark brown stripe down the centre o f each feather;
under tail-coverts o f a darker brown, tipped and margined anteriorly with white; back and scapulars brown'
darker in the centres o f the feathers; wing- and tail-quills blackish brown, the former crossed with a white
band as far as the ninth quill; bill at the base, the legs and feet, and skin round the eye yellow; remainder
o f the bill black. Length 3-7 inches, wing 3, tail 1-5, tarsus 1-7, bill 0-5, bill from gape 0-7.” ’
The figures in the Plate are drawn from a single specimen lent to me by Mr. Waller, whose kindness in
showing me many fine species of Australiau birds during his recent visit to England I have much pleasure
in acknowledging. The birds are represented o f the size o f life ; and I have ventured to introduce into the
Plate a representation o f the nest o f a Sittella. which I believe to be that of the present bird, as it was sent
to me from the part of the country which this species inhabits. I have never before had the opportunity of
figuring one o f the nests belonging to any member of the genus; but Mr. Ramsay states that the nidification
o f all the Siltellis is o f a similar character, “ the nest being placed in an upright and usually dead fork of
some high branch ; it is made of fine strips of bark with a large quantity o f spiders’ webs, with which small
scales o f bark, resembling that o f the branch in which it is placed, are felted on so carefully as hardly to be
detected, even at a comparatively short distance; the rim is very thin, the nest open above, and very deep ”