NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



593 



bii-d invariably lays two eggs. Possibly the clutches are regulated by 

 the seasons nnd siipplv of food, because the late Mr. Grcgoiy Batcman, 

 a most intelligent field obsei-ver and bird catclicr, told mo that in good 

 seasons near Stratford, Gippsland, he has seen four eggs in the nest of 

 the Blue Moimtain Parrot, as he called the bird. 



Cliief breeding months, September or October to December or 

 January. But the Lorikeets sometimes lay during July and Augu.st in 

 South Queensland, while a record in the " Catalogue of the Australian 

 Museum ' stated that Mr. J. A. Boyd, Herbert River, Norlh Queens- 

 land, foimd a nest containing young as late as the month of May (1888). 



With reference to Verreaux's Lorikeet, or Loi-y, T. verrrauxius, 

 separated by Professor Mivart,* other sound authorities (Salvadori and 

 Gould) consider it a hybrid between T. tinvce-holhnulice and GIossop- 

 aittacus ronrttinus. 



The picture by Mr. S. W. Jackson, " Taking a Blue-bellied Lorikeet's 

 Nest,' is not without interest for its originality, 'ihe bmich of tree- 

 orcliids growing on the right-hand portions of the tree tnmk shows that 

 the region where the picture was taken is undoubtedly sub-tropical. 



464. — Trichoglossus rubritorques. Vigors and Horsfield. — (445) 

 RED-COLLARED LORIKEET. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v., pi. 49. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xx., p. 60. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Le Souef : Victorian Naturalist, vol. 

 XV., .p. 151 (iSgi), also Ibis, p. 360 (1899); North: Victorian 

 Naturalist, vol. xvi., p. 12 (1899). 



Geor/raphical Distrihufinn. — North-west Australia, Northern Terri- 

 tory and North Queensland. 



Xest. — Within a hol° or hollow spout of a tree (eucalypt). 



Egc/x. — Clutch, two ; roundish oval in .shape ; texture of shell fine ; 

 surface without gloss ; coloiu-, originally wliite, but becomes more or less 

 stained with the wood dust of the nest. Dimensions in inches of a 

 proper pair : (1) Ml x -87, (2) 1-05 x 1-03. 



Observations. — This lovely Red-collared Lorikeet inhabits the nor- 

 thern parts of Australia, and is a beautiful representative of its near 

 ally, the Blue-bellied Lorikeet of more eastern parts, from which it 

 differs in having the throat and abdomen deep olive, almost black, in 

 addition to its distinguishing red collar. 



Mr. E. J. Hanis, collecting for Mr. G. A. Keartland, was probably 

 the first white man to handle the eggs of the Red-collared Lorikeet. 

 They were taken in the Derby District, May, 1898. 



' " Monograph of the Loriidae." 



38 



