.VESTS AXD EOGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. ^gg 



Nest and Eggs. — Undescribed. 



Observations. — Mr. Waller, of Brisbane, was the first collector to 

 forwai'd to Gould in England the two kinds of Australian Lorilets. 

 Regarding the Red-faced species — scientific<ally named after Mr. C. 

 Coxou, a brothor-iu-law of Gould and a member of the Legislative 

 Assembly of Queensland, who was much interested in Austrahan orni- 

 thology — Mr. Waller wrote to Gould: — "The liLstoiy of the bird, so 

 far as I can learn, is, that during the month of June, 1866, it was shot 

 by a sawyer near a mountain scrub, al^cut thirty miles from Brisbane. 

 The man states that he had seen a flock in the neighbourhood for some 

 weeks, and had shot several for a pudding ; being somewhat interested 

 in ornithology, and observing a chfTerence between them and the 

 ordinary Green Parrakeet, he skinned three or four, two of which he 

 brought me ; the others were, unfortunately, destroyed." 



Wliile on my visit to the Riclimond River scnibs, a single example 

 of this pigmy PaiTot was shot from a tall fig-tree. On accoimt of their 

 partiahty for these trees, the bii-d is sometimes called the Fig Parrot. 



471. — Cyclopsitt.vcus maccoyi, Gould. 

 G . macleayana, Ramsay. 



BLUE-FACED LORILET. 



Figure. — Gould — Sharpe : Birds of New Guinea, vol. v., pi. 7. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xx., p. 95. 



Geographical Distribution. — North Queensland. 



Nest. — -Within a small hole in a tree in scmb or forest country, the 

 eggs being usually deposited about one foot from the entrance. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to four ; white at first, but become discoloui-ed 

 by the wood dust in the nest. An example in the Nehrkom collection, 

 from Cape York Peninsula, is round oval in shape, fine in texture, 

 surface without gloss, and measures in niches -86 x -7. 



Observations. — This remarkable form of the Parrot family is peculiar 

 to the scrubs of Northern Queensland. It is a short bird, and has a 

 large rounded head furnished with powerful bill. There was a gi-and 

 rush for priority of description of tliis new and interesting bird in 1875 

 by Dr. Ramsay and Gould in the " Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society,'' and Professor Sir F. McCoy in the " Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History." The veteran, Gould, won on the post, as sporting 

 men say, naming the bnd C ijcJopsitta muccoi/i. Dr. Ramsay's 

 description of C . macleayana was actually first pubUshed in the " Sydney 

 Morning Herald," November 15th, 1874, but in scientific circles news- 

 paper reports do not count for priority, at least, that is the rule 

 followed in the Zoological Catalogues of the British Museum. 



