Table Of Content

Plate 1 Blue and Purple-crowned fairy-wrens, genus Malurus 1. Splendid Fairy-wren 3. Superb Fairy-wren Malurus sple11dens p. 149 Malurus cyaneus p. 143 Heathland, shrubland, and mallee in south South-eastern Australia. Sexes clearly dimor western, central, and inland eastern Australia. phic in nuptial plumage; two subspecies recog Sexes clearly dimorphic in nuptial plumage; nized. Outside the breeding season males enter males subspecifically distinct. Outside the an eclipse female-like plumage retaining their breeding season males enter an eclipse female black bills. Immatures are indistinguishable like plumage; immatures initially resemble and female-like until the bills of the males females but males gain blue primaries (a) and darken. then black bills before assuming their first (a) M. c. cyaneus of Bass Strait Islands and nuptial plumage. Tasmania; larger and deeper blue. (a) M. s. splendens of south-western Australia; (b) M. c. cyanochlainys of mainland Australia; uniformly cobalt-blue back and belly. smaller and paler to the north. (b) M. s. inelanotus of inland eastern Australia; black lower back feathering and mid-belly whiteish. (c) M. s. callainus of central Australia; tur quoise above, cobalt-blue below, black back. 2. Purple-crowned Fairy-wren M alurus coronatus p. 15 5 River margins of northern Australia. Sexes clearly dimorphic in nuptial plumage; outside the breeding season and in times of drought the males enter an eclipse female-like plumage without the distinctive ear-patch of females; immatures resemble females except for brown (not grey) crown, sexes indistinguishable. Two very similar subspecies recognized, separated by 200 km gap, M. c. coronatus in north-west Kimberleys and M. c. inacgillivrayi in the east. Plate 2 Chestnut-shouldered fairy-wrens, genus Malurus A chestnut-shouldered fairy-wren occurs in 2. Blue-breasted Fairy-wren nearly every part of Australia except for the Malurus pulcherrimus p. 168 extreme south-east. The males of all these Sexes dimorphic in nuptial plumage; male with species have conspicuous rufous (chestnut) violet-blue crown, back, and ear tufts, and scapulars. breast navy blue; females very similar to those of the Variegated Fairy-wren (M. lamberti 1. Variegated Fairy-wren assimilis) but lores rufous and bill red-brown. Malurus lamberti p. 160 The eclipse female-like plumage of males out Sexes dimorphic in nuptial plumage; four sub side the breeding season is characterized by a species recognized, based on two different white or pale-blue ring of small feathers round male plumages (a and b,c,d) and three differ the eye. ent female plumages (a,b;c;d). Males of all No subspecies recognized throughout the four subspecies enter an eclipse female-like range across southern Australia. plumage in the non-breeding season. (a) Malurus l. lamberti of eastern coastal 3. Lovely Fairy-wren Australia; nuptial male with royal blue Malurus amabilis p. 165 back and azure crown; female with bright Sexes dimorphic in nuptial plumage, with tails rufous lores, red-brown bill, and grey shorter than those of other chestnut-shouldered brown back. fairy-wrens; male with azure crown, back, and (b) Malurus l. assimilis throughout inland ear tufts, and black breast and bill; female with and western Australia; nuptial male with black bill as male, white lores, turquoise ear purple back and variable violet-blue tufts, and smoky-blue back. crown; female with bright rufous lores, In shrubby forest margins on Cape York red-brown bill, and grey-brown back as Peninsula; no subspecies recognized. M. l. lamberti. (c) Malurus l. rogersi Kimberley region, 4. Red-winged Fairy-wren north-west Australia; nuptial male indis Malurus elegans p. 172 tinguishable from M. l. assimilis; female Sexes dimorphic in nuptial plumage; male with bright rufous lores, red-brown bill, with silvery-blue crown, back and ear tufts, and grey-blue back. with navy-blue breast; female grey-brown (d) Malurus l. dulcis of Arnhem Land, north above with darker scapulars, deep rufous lores ern Australia; nuptial males indistin not extending behind the eye, and black bill as guishable from M. l. assimilis; female male. Many males in the season following with white lores, red-brown bill, and their hatch do not achieve full nuptial grey-blue back. plumage. Eclipse male plumage in the non breeding season as for female, but retains black lores. In forested south-west corner of Australia; no subspecies recognized. Plate 3 Bi-coloured fairy-wrens, genus Malurus Three species achieve striking male nuptial plum may attain some black and red patches as 'spotty' ages with only two colours-blue and white, black males. and white, and red and black. They all lack the erec (a) Malurus m. melanocephalus nuptial males with tile ear tufts of the blue and chestnut-shouldered fiery orange scapulars and back; eastern fairy-wrens. Australia from northern New South Wales to base of Cape York. 1. White-winged Fairy-wren (b) Malurus m. cruentatus nuptial males with Malurus leucopterus p. 176 scarlet-crimson back and shorter tail; northern Sexes dimorphic; three subspecies recognized on tropical Australia. colour of nuptial males and size; females of all three are similar drab grey-brown. Unlike other Malurus, 3. White-shouldered Fairy-wren male White-winged Fairy-wrens do not attain full Malurus alboscapulatus p. 185 nuptial plumage until they are in their fourth year. A complicated New Guinea species with three dif Males in their third year are as (c) 'spotty' males. ferent sorts of female plumage, one of which is black Most males moult into an eclipse plumage after the and white like the male. Six subspecies are recog breeding season has ended; a very few maintain nized, three of which are not clearly sexually dimor their nuptial plumage throughout the year. phic in plumage, while three are. The males of all six (a) Malurus l. leucopterus nuptial male black with subspecies are similarly black and white and do not white patch on wing involving scapulars, enter an eclipse plumage. All subspecies typically secondary wing coverts, and innermost (3-6) found in tall grasslands such as frequented by the secondaries; tail deep blue; only on Dirk Red-backed Fairy-wren (M. melanocephalus) in Hartog Island, Western Australia. northern Australia; avoidance of tall mountains and (b) Malurus l. edouardi similar to M. l. leucopterus forests has led to geographical separation of distinct in plumage but larger, although tail shorter; subspecies. only on Barrow Island, Western Australia. (a) Malurus a. alboscapulatus male glossy black (c) Malurus l. leuconotus similar plumage to except for white scapular tufts; female pied, M. l. leucopterus except that black feathering with head and back black and underparts replaced by mid to deep cobalt blue; found in white; from Vogelkop, West Irian Jaya. low shrublands across arid and semi-arid (b) Malurus a. naimii as (a), but smaller; from Australia with little variation. northern to southern central Papua New Guinea. 2. Red-backed Fairy-wren (c) Malurus a. aida male glossy black with white Malurus melanocephalus p. 181 scapulars; female similar to male but duller; Sexes dimorphic with two subspecies recognized, northern West Irian Jaya. the nuptial males of which differ in the shade of red (d) Malurus a. kutubu as (c) and (e), but larger and on the back. This species is the smallest Malurus. south of the cordillera is separated geographi The females of the two subspecies are similar and a cally from (c) to the north and (e) to the east. more rufous brown than female White-winged (e) Malurus a. moretoni as (c) and (d), but sepa Fairy-wrens (M. leucopterus). Outside the breeding rated from both by M. a. naimii with pied season, nuptial males enter an eclipse female-like females; lowlands and foothills around eastern plumage. As in M. leucopterus, males take more end of Papua New Guinea. than 2 years to attain full nuptial plumage; in their (t) Malurus a. lorentzi male glossy black except first year, they are indistinguishable in plumage for white scapular tufts; female brown above, from females but have a cloaca! protruberance creamy white below with cinnamon flanks; during the breeding season. In their second year, from Trans-Fly in south-western Papua New their bills are darker and in their third year, they Guinea to the Baliem Valley in Irian Jaya. potty' s with astern ales to with rthem ee dif black recog oimor- sand · black e pied, erparts from ew 2a o white duller; er and aphi- - sepa- pied eastern except above, flanks; a ew ya. Plate 4 Four New Guinea malurids Three genera represented; two species now 3. Orange-crowned Wren placed in Malurus, and one each in two mono Clytomias insignis p. 199 specific genera Sipodotus and Clytomyias. A fifth New Guinea malurid, Malurus alboscapu Male and female of this monospecific genus latus, is shown in Plate 3. virtually indistinguishable; carries tail cocked; two subspecies recognized; the only malurid in 1. Emperor Fairy-wren mountain forest. Malurus cyanocephalus p. 192 (a) Clytomyias i. insignis throat, breast, and Sexes dimorphic: males blue and black above upper belly creamy-white in both sexes; and below; females crown and face as male but confined to the mountains of the Vogelkop back chestnut, underparts white; white tips to in extreme western New Guinea. tail feathers. Immature males pass through (b) Clytomyias i. oorti throat, breast, and belly female-like plumage before achieving adult buff, female paler; found in mountain male plumage. forest each side of the central cordillera of (a) Malurus c. cyanocephalus crown of male the main part of New Guinea. with violet cast to the blue; occurs in lowland forests from Vogelkop in the 4. Broad-billed Fairy-wren west along northern New Guinea; female Malurus grayi p. 189 similar to those of (b) and ( c). Sexual dimorphism slight, mainly in size (male (b) Malurus c. bonapartii similar to (a) but larger) and belly-colour, which is white in the crown light cobalt blue; throughout female and blue in the male; both sexes have southern lowland forests of New Guinea; pale blue ear tufts. Two subspecies currently female as (a) and (c). recognized, separated by the central cordillera. (c) Malurus c. mysorensis as (b) but smaller; (a) Malurus g. grayi crown and forehead of only found on Biak Island off the north male charcoal mottled with pale blue; west of New Guinea; separated from (b) female with solid charcoal crown and by nominate race (a). Female as (a) and forehead, and white belly; from the (b). Vogelkop along the northern slopes of the central cordillera. 2. Wallace's Wren (b) Malurus g. campbelli smaller than (a), Sipodotus wallacii p. 196 crown and forehead of male and female Sexes in this monospecific genus are almost black; female otherwise as (a); known inseparable; males have throat and breast only from Mt. Bosavi south of the main white whereas female is yellowish in these cordillera. areas; these differences vary over the wide spread distribution with two subspecies recog nized; rarely cocks tail. Forages in trees rather than undergrowth in foothill rainforest throughout New Guinea. Only S. w. wallacii illustrated. genus eked; .din t, and sexes; gelkop • (male in the shave ently illera. own main Plate 5 Emu-wrens, genus Stipiturus Three species characterized by having only six 3. Southern Emu-wren very long filamentous tail feathers, the central Stipiturus malachurus p. 203 feathers much longer than the outer ones. The The largest of the emu-wrens, rufous brown barbs of these feathers are sparse and the bar streaked with black above and plain tawny bules lack hooks to mesh them together. Sexes below, whiter on central belly. Males with sky dimorphic, males with blue throats, upper blue eyebrow, throat, and upper breast; unlike breast, and ear coverts contrasting with the the other two species the ear coverts are light plainer females. Juvenile sexes distinct before brown. Tail about twice as long as the body nestlings fledge, showing incipient male throat with vanes little enmeshed. Only found in low colouring. dense heaths or tussocky swamps in seven dis crete geographically isolated subspecies across 1. Mallee Emu-wren southern coastal Australia and Tasmania. Stipiturus malachurus p. 208 (a) Stipiturus m. malachurus as described Crown plain dull rufous; back olive-brown above: in eastern and south-eastern streaked black; tail one and a half times as coastal mainland Australia from Noosa long as body; face, ear coverts, and throat sky (Qld) to the Coorong (South Australia). blue. Females similar to males without blue (b) Stipiturus m. westernensis white-streaked colouring and with more streaked crown. ear coverts, slender tail feathers, olive-grey Confined to spinifex (Triodia) under mallee back with black streaks. South-western woodland on each side of the border between Australia, coastal from Jurien Bay to South Australia and Victoria, south of the Esperance avoiding forest block. Murray River. No subspecies. (c) Stipiturus m. littleri similar to (a) but streaking finer and belly all rufous; small 2. Rufous-crowned Emu-wren er, with shorter tail. Tasmania. Stipiturus ruficeps p. 210 The smallest and brightest of the three emu Not illustrated wrens. Rufous upper surface, with only slight Stipiturus m. intermedius Mt Lofty Ranges, dorsal streaking; tail shorter, one and one South Australia. third times as long as the body, and the vanes Stipiturus m. halmaturinus Kangaroo Island, more enmeshed than in the other emu-wrens. South Australia. Females similar to males, but lacking blue face Stipiturus m. parimeda Eyre Peninsula, South and throat; sometimes show traces of pale blue Australia. in ear coverts. Widespread across arid western Stipiturus m. hartogi Dirk Hartog Island, and central Australia in spinifex (Triodia, Western Australia. Plectrachne spp.) on sand plains, dunes, and rocky ranges. No subspecies recognized.