PARDALOTUS. 227 



August until the end of December constitute the usual breeding season, and both sexes 

 assist in the construction of the nest. In the neighbourhood of Sydney I have obtained nests 

 with fresh eggs from the 13th August to the 15th December. At Roseville these birds construct 

 their nests close to my house, in mounds of soil regularly raked up underneath the large Eucalypti 

 for orchard and garden purposes. Mr. R. Meikle who opened up one of these tunnels and 

 finding the nest had not been laid in after flushing the female from it, covered the tunnel over at 

 the top with thin twigs and sticks and loosely replaced the soil; re-opening it a week later he 

 found the female sitting on four eggs. In company with Mr. C. J. Johnston, we found many nests 

 on the side of a rocky gully at Roseville during September 1898. All the entrances were formed 

 close to large flat stones. On removing the latter we found the tunnel followed close to the stone 

 terminating in a beautifully formed nest with four eggs or young. Examining Diamond-birds 

 nests in this manner is much preferable to digging them out, although they are so common they 

 are seldom interfered with except by bird-nesting boys. In this gully we found that the 

 eggs of this species were eaten by a small lizard (Egernia iMtci), one being captured while 

 leaving a burrow, which disgorged the yolks of the eggs it had just eaten, the shells of which were 

 found in the tunnel. Curious nesting sites are sometimes selected by these birds. At Ashfield on 

 the 26th August, 1896, 1 saw a bird enter a tunnel with some bark in its bill in a small mound of 

 earth, left on a well metalled and frequented street close to the railway station. At Chatswood 

 and Roseville, I have seen it nesting in gardens, and on two occasions have known it to form 

 tunnels in the soil of rustic fern baskets, hanging under the verandah of a house in the former 

 instance, and the other suspended from the roof of a bush-house. 



Pardalotus xanthopygius. 



GOLDEN'-EUMPKD DI AMuND-HIRD. 

 Pardalotus xanthopygius, McCoy, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 3, Vol. XIX., p. 184 (1867); 

 Gould, Bds. Austr, fol., Suppl., pi. 8 (1869); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. X , p. 59 

 (188.5). 

 Pardalotus h'adbeateri (Ramsay), Newton, Ibis, 1867, pp. 25.5-6. 



Adult male — Liki' flip adidt m<di' nf Pahdalotu.s punctatus, Temm., hut iKiciiuj thf iji'in^ral 

 colour of the upper parts ashy-yrey, the spots on the mantle and back dull ivhite, and the rump J'eathers 

 rich golden-yellow ; chin, throat, and under tail-coverts clear ffolden-yellow, remainder of the under 

 surface creamy or faint huffy-white, -tides of' the fore neck and body asliy-ijrfy. Total length o:5 incfie-i 

 wing 2-28, tail 1-2, tarsus 0-7. 



Adult female — Z^H/Ze/- in nihiur thim tin- iii(ih\ mid nmri' iif till iixfiy-limini line mi tlie nj)pe.r 

 2Jarts, the spots on the liead are dull yillun-, mid those on tfic bark faint yillniciih-irhile ; all the under 

 surface pale creamy-brown, ligfiter on tfie tfiroat, tfie sides 0/ the neck and body slightly wasfied n-it/t 

 ashy-grey ; under tail coverts pale golden yellou: 



Distribution — New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia. 

 /~|^HE distinctive characters of the present species were first pointed out by the late Mr. 

 J_ John Leadbeater of the National Museum, Melbourne, to Dr. (then Mr.) E. P. Ramsay, 

 and the late Sir (then Professor) Frederick McCoy. At a meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London held on the 28th February, 1867, was read a paper by Dr. Ramsay describing it under 

 the name of Pardalotus kadbcateri. The March number of "The Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History" contained a description by Sir Frederick McCoy of the same species, under the name 

 of Pardalotus xantfiopygius. As the part in which Dr. Ranisay's paper would appear would not 

 be published until the ist May following, the latter wrote to the secretary in the meantime 

 withdrawing his description and name of Pardalotus Icadbcatcri. 



