PARDALOTUS. 225 



on the 23rd November, i886, at Circular Head, measures 077 x o-6 inches. A set of three in 

 Mr. Malcolm Harrison's collection, taken by him on the 24th October, 1896, in Southern 

 Tasmania, measures:— Length (A) 073 x 0-57 inches; (B) 075 x 0-55 inches; (C) 077 x 0-57 

 inches. 



Young birds that have recently left the nest have the forehead, crown of the head and nape 

 olive-grey like the back; the yellow tips to the primary coverts are smaller, as is also the white 

 spot at the tip of the inner web of the lateral tail feathers; the yellow supra-loral streak is duller 

 in colour and less distinctly defined, as is also the continuing dull white streak above and behind 

 the eye; the ear-coverts and sides of the neck are a very pale buffy-brown with a faint yellowish 

 wash, and the yellow throat and centre of fore neck is much paler than in the adult. Wing 2-5 

 inches. A further advance towards maturity is exhibited by two specimens in the Australian 

 Museum collection, which have the feathers on the forehead and crown of the head centred with 

 dull yellowish-white, a few on the nape being blackish narrowly streaked with white; both 

 specimens have the tips of the primary-coverts yellow, and in one specimen they are as large as 

 in the adult. Wing 2-6 inches. 



October and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season of this species. 



Pardalotus punctatus. 



SPOTTED DIAMOND-BIRD. 

 Pipra -punctata, Shaw, Nat. Misol., Vol. IV., PI. Ill (1792). 



Pardalotus punctatus, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. 11., pi. .3-5 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. I., p. 157 (18G5); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. X., p. 58 (1885). 



Adult male — Forehead and crown of head black with small rounded white spots; hind neck, 

 mantle and back greyish-brown, all the feathers margined with black and having an ochreous-bujf spot 

 at the tip, those on the hind neck being smaller and paler; rump chestnut-brown; upper tail-coverts 

 crimson; upper wingcoveris and quills black with a rounded spot of white at their tips, larger on the 

 innermost secondaries, the outer web of the first primary externally edged with white : tail feathers 

 black, most of them with a spot of white at the tip; a broad white stripe extends from the nostril over 

 the eye on to the upper portion of the ear-coverts; cheeks, ear-coverts, and sides of throat ashy-grey 

 narrowly barred with black, sides of fore neck similar but the darker barrings almost obsolete; chin, 

 centre of throat and fore neck rich yellow; remainder of the under surface light fawn-colour, darker 

 on the flanks, paler on the centre of the abdomen; under tail-coverts rich yellow, their bases washed 

 with light chestnut-brown; bill black; legs and feet fleshy-brown; iris black. Total lemjth in the 

 flesh 3-So inches, wing 2--3, tail 1-2, bill 0-25, tarsus 0-7. 



Adult fe}.iale— Differs from the male in being duller in colour, the spots on the head are yellow 

 instead of ivhite, and the chin, centre of throat and fore neck are dull white with a faint ochreous 

 wash, these parts being rich yellow in the male. 



Distribution— Onee.ui\^nd, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South .\ustralia, Western Australia. 

 Tasmania. 



fN Eastern and Southern Australia the Spotted Diamond-bird is widely distributed, its range 

 also extending to Tasmania. But little variation occurs in the colour or markings of 

 this species, except in the size of the white spots at the tips of the quills and some of the tail 

 feathers; the spots on the back of some examples are nearly white. Among numerous specimens 

 in the .\ustralian Museum collection are adult examples obtained by Mr. George Masters at 

 the Ouse River, Tasmania, and King George's Sound, Western .-Vustralia, and they are precisely 

 similar to others procured by Mr. R. Grant at Boar Pocket, Bellenden Ker Range in North- 



