594 NESTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



During December and January Jollowing, Mr. E. Olive, collecting 

 for Mr. Le Souef and Drs. Ryan and Snowball, found several nests in 

 the Port Darwin District. A pair of these eggs was first publicly 

 exhibited and desn-ibed by Mr. Lc Souef at a meeting of the Field 

 NaturaUsts' Club of Victoria, 13th March, 1899. 



Breeding season apparently variable. 



465. PSITTEUTELES CHLOROLEPIDOTUS, Kuhl. (446) 



SCALY-BREASTED LORIKEET. 



Figure.— Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v., pi. 50. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xx., p. 65. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Campbell : Victorian Naturalist 

 {1886) ; North : Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. Wales, vol. ii., 2nd 

 ser., p. 986 (1887), also Austn. Mus. Cat., app. ii., pi. 14, fig. 

 12 (1S90). 



Geograj)hicaI Dhtrihution. — Queensland, New South Wales, and 

 interior of South Australia (probably). 



Next. — Within a hole usually in a tall tree. 



Erjgs. — Clutch, one to two; roundish in form; texture of shell 

 fine ; stu^ace vrithout gloss ; colour, white, more or less stained with 

 wood dust. Dimensions in inches of a clutch: (1) l'Ox'82, 

 (2) 1-0 X "82; of a single and smaller example: -94 x -78. 



These eggs, being more roimded at the smaller end, arc unlike those 

 of the Blue-bellied Lorikeet (Trirhmjlnsmx nova'-hoUandirc). 



Observations. — During my Queensland excursion, 1885, I shot 

 specimens of the Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, which roam chiefly through 

 the eastern latitudes of Australia, but I have never seen it, or heard of 

 them being found south of the MiuTay. 



The Scaly-breasted Lorikeet takes its name from the beautiful scale- 

 Uke yellow markings on the breast of its otherwise rich, gi-ass-gi-een 

 plumage. Tlie under surface of the wings is adorned with the richest 

 of scarlet, which is most strikingly seen when the bird flies. 



Gould stated that among other places, the Scaly-breasted Lorikeet 

 used to breed in all the large eucalypts near Maitland, on the Hunter 

 River, but, he regretted to say, he was imable to procure its eggs. 



I received an egg from the late Mr. George Barnard's collection, 

 wliich I exhibited and described before the Field Naturalists' Cli»b of 

 Victoria, 14th December, 1885. At Coomooboolaroo, this Lorikeet 

 lays a single egg, sometimes two. Out of nine nests found there two 

 only contained pairs, the rest having a single egg each. Mr. Barnard 

 was the first collector to procure these rare eggs. Mr. S. W. .T.nckson 

 tells me that on one occasion he found throe eggs in a nest. 



Usual breeding season from June to October, or Inter. 



