staganoplki;ra. 269 



suburbs than close to the coast, and is still comm-jn in the open forest lands between Parratnatta 

 and Penrith. It occurs throughout the Blue Mountains, and I have observed it but in diminished 

 numbers as far west as Coonamble. Around Sydney it is sometimes caught by youthful bird- 

 trappers, but far less frequently than the " Red-head," (.Egintha temporalis), or the acclimatised 

 Goldfinch (Cavduclis elegans). During the autumn it congregates in small flocks from ten to 

 twenty or more individuals, passing much of its time on the ground and feeding on various 

 grass-seeds which constitute its usual food. When disturbed the rich crimson rump and upper 

 tail-coverts are conspicuously displayed as the flock seeks refuge in flight. 



A single low but remarkably clear mournful whistle, is the principal call note of this 

 species, and which is repeated at intervals. 



The wing-measurement of adult males varies from 2-55 to 2-75 inches. Individual variation 

 is not uncommon in this species. Most frequently it consists in scattered dull crimson feathers 

 on the underparts. There is a specimen in the South Australian Museum with a few dull 

 crimson feathers intermingled with the white feathers on the breast; a similar one in the Australian 

 Museum collection also has the feathers on the lower throat indistinctly margined with dull 

 crimson, and another one with a bright crimson feather among the white under tail-coverts. The 

 most remarkable specimen in the collection is a fine old adult female, which has the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts bright chrome-yellow, instead of rich crimson. This bird was shot out of a 

 flock of about twenty of normal plumaged individuals, by the late Mr. J. A. Thorpe, at George's 

 River, in May 1888. 



From Copmanhurst Mr. G. Savidge writes me under date 14th May, 1907: — " Stagauopkuva 

 guttata is sparingly dispersed over this district. I have not seen it in large numbers anywhere, 

 it seems to build nearly all the year round, a pair have just got young in a pine tree near my 

 garden. It resorts to the same tree to build in time after time, and I have frequently seen it 

 pinching off the strong straight stems of summer grass to build with, and carrying feathers from 

 the poultry yard; it usually lays five or six eggs, and often breeds in small colonies, five or six 

 nests being sometimes found in gum saplings close together. 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. .\ustin has sent me the 

 following notes'. — " Staganopleura guttata remains with us at all times of the year, but never in 

 very great numbers. Their large bottle-shaped grass nests are to be found placed in a great 

 variety of places such as in small thick bushes to the top-most branches of lofty red-gums; in 

 deserted Pomatostomus temporalis nests, but in this district their favourite nesting site is the 

 underneath part of the nests of Haliastur sphenurus : this is probably with the idea of protection 

 from their enemies. Last year I counted twenty-two of their nests in a single Apple tree 

 (Angophora lanceolata). From the amount of dirt found in old nests, it would appear that they 

 use it for roosting in long after breeding is finished. Their call note is a long drawn out low 

 whistle, which is very difficult to distinguish from one note of the female Petrceca bicolor." 



Mr. E. H. Lane sends me the following note : — " On \\'ambangalang Station, near Dubbo, 

 New South Wales, I have seen as many as five nests of the Spotted-sided Finch in a Box-tree, 

 in which was also built a nest of the Brown Hawk. On one occasion I saw a nest of the 

 Spotted-sided Finch attached to the sticks underneath a nest of the Square-tailed Kite." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following note : — " The nests of Staganopleura guttata are 

 often placed some distance from the ground. Of three nests I saw at Melton, Victoria, on the 

 gth November, 1898, all were over forty feet from the ground. On a previous visit to the same 

 locality I saw a pair of these birds building their nest beneath and among the sticks of a Brown 



