220 



PARDALOTID*. 



Young birds that have just left the nest have the forehead and crown of the head olive-grey 

 like the back, and there is only a slight indication of a fulvous wash on the upper tail-coverts, 

 there is no sign of the broad superciliary streak, and the cheeks and under surface are dull white 

 uniformly washed with yellow. Wing 2-2 inches. A further progress towards maturity is 

 exhibited in some specimens in the feathers on the occiput being black, streaked with white, 

 the yellow streak behind the nostril is well defined, and to a less extent the continuing dull white 

 line above and behind the eye; on the under parts the yellow centre to the throat and streak on 

 each side of the breast is more clearly indicated. Wing 2-4 inches. 



August and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season of this species, 

 nests with eggs being more frequently found in New South Wales during September and 

 October. 



Pardalotus assimilis. 



RAMSAY'S DIAMOND-BIRD. 

 Pardalotus assimilis, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. II., p. ISO (1878); Sharpe, Cat. 

 Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. X., p. 56 (1885) (subsp.). 

 Adult male — Like the adult male of Pardalotus ornatus, Temminok, but liaving the upper 

 parts of a clearer grey, and the rump and upper tail-coverts much paler, the primary-coverts are usually 

 tipped with orange-red and the oxiter tveh of the third primary otily is, as a rule, distinctly margined 

 with white, as in P- affinis. Total lengths in thejiesh Jf'-J inches, iving '2'')5, tail 1 :J, bill O'-i, tarsus 0'7o. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 

 Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria. 



OF the striped-crowned members of the genus Pnvd a lotus the present species is the commonest 

 inhabiting New South Wales, its range extending to Queensland and Victoria, and 

 probably it occurs in the adjacent parts of South Australia, but I have never seen a specimen 

 from that State. Of twenty-seven adult specimens now before me, collected in different parts 

 of New South Wales the distinguishing characters pointed out by Dr. Ramsay are constant in 

 twenty-two of them, five only having the outer web of the third as well as the second primary 

 margined with white. I do not refer at all to the very narrow white edge to the outer web of 

 the first primary which is common to nearly every species of the genus. Dr. R. B. Sharpe* 

 points out that the colour of the tips of the primary-coverts or "speculum varies from yellow to 

 orange and to scarlet and even crimson. This question can only be settled by observers in 

 Australia ; but it seems to me by no means improbable that P. striafits and P. affinis interbreed, 

 especially if the localities of all the specimens in the British Museum are to be relied on." 



Pardalotus affinis is the only species I have seen with yellow tips to the primary-coverts. In 

 the Australian Museum series of specimens of P. assimilis, the tips of the primary-coverts vary 

 in colour from orange to red and crimson. Pardalotus assimilis is not the young of P. ornatus, or 

 the result of interbreeding between P. ornatus and P. affinis, nor is it a phase of the latter species, 

 as has been stated, for it does not occur in Tasmania where P. affinis is the sole representative of 

 the striped-crowned members of the genus. Moreover P. assimilis is not found in Western 

 Australia its place being there taken by P. ornatus. In New South Wales Pardalotus assimilis 

 chiefly frequents and is a common species in the coastal districts, where P. affinis is comparatively 

 rare and F. ornatus does not occur. Gould's statement that the young of the latter species " assume 

 the adult colouring from the nest but have the tips of the spurious wing orange instead of red,"t 



• Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. X., p. 56 (1885). 

 f Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 162 (1865). 



