130 



I'F.HIM Km U.K. 



grou])s of about a dozen at a lime to diinl<, or else consreKated in <,'roups preeiiini; their feathers 

 anel ha\'iiiK a sociahle time. If iindistmlied, eai li liird after drinking; llew oil liy itself, makiiiL; 

 a loud noise with its \vin,>;s." 



From Broome Hill, South-western .Australia, Mr. Tom Carter sent me the following,' notes 

 in .\pril, igio ; — " 'J'he lironze-winp; ( I'linps (haliKptrrii) is f^enerally distriluited o\ er Western 

 .\ustralia, but was not nearly so numerous in the north-west as it is in this district. Probably 

 the presence or absence of Jam-trees (Aiacia acuniiiuUd) determines its abundance or scarcity, as 

 it feeds very larj;ely on the seeds. I have noted this species in \arious localities, from the 

 North-west Cape to Albany and Denmark in the extreme south, and found it rather plentiful on 

 the goldheld railway, one hundred miles east of Perth. If not disturbed these Ijuds so(3n 

 become tame and confiding,', and may be seen feedinj; about my stable and stockyards, 

 allowing one to pass them within a few yards without arising from the giound. They ha\e 

 been pariicularly numerous in my paddocks the last four months, feeding on the seeds of the 

 Jam trees, which 1 have not had killed by ring-barking. The eggs are laid towards the end of 

 the year, and the slight nest is usually built in some well foliaged small timber, such as Jam, 



Stinkwood,or She (Jak. Since 



\^ 





NK.ST AND EGliS OF HRONZE-WING. 



my residence here 1 have 

 found many of these birds 

 killed by Hying against wire 

 fences, the head or neck being 

 usually injured. The note is 

 a deep one, and can hardly be 

 distinguished from that of the 

 Painted Ouai If' 7";/ ;■»/.!- ravia )." 



From Dr. Fonsdale 

 Holden's notes, made while 

 resident at Circular Head, 

 on the north-west coast of 

 Tasmania, the following 

 extract is made: — "On the 

 2 2nd October, iSS6, I found 

 a nest of I 'haps chalcoptcra at 

 Circular Head, in a bush h\e 

 feet from the ground, containing a single fresh egg, and saw both birds. The nest, probably an 

 old one adopted, was a considerable mass of sticks and dry leaves. It was deserted after I 

 disturbed the hen off this egg. I saw both birds on the nest, and closely observed one of them 

 through a glass while it was perched on a branch. Since living at Bellerive, near Hobart, ] 

 have occasionally seen Bronze-wings and have generally liushed them from wild cherry- 

 trees." 



The nest is an open stiucture, slightly cupped internally, and formed usually of sticks and 

 twigs; there is, however, a great variation in size, those built far inland being usually smaller 

 and more scanty than those built in districts contiguous to the coast. Several nests examined, 

 taken by Mr. G. Savidge at Copmanhurst, built in Baiiksia trees, the leaves of which entered 

 largely into their construction, were larger and more compactly built, averaging ten inches in 

 diameter by four inches in depth. Nests taken by the late Mr. K. H. liennett on Yandembah 

 Station, and at Ivanhoe, were thin scanty structures seven inches across, and so frail that the eggs 

 were clearly visible through the bottom of the nest. Any suitable tree or thick bush is selected 

 as a nesting site, but principally different species of Eucalyptus, Angoplwra, Acmta and Banhsta, the 

 structure being sometimes within hand's reach to twenty or thirty feet from the ground. 



