276 PLOCEID*. 



usually met with in small scattered flocks. During the protracted drought of 1896 these birds 

 were driven to some of the coastal districts of the State, and remained to breed where previously 

 they had never been observed. Open grassy plains, studded here and there with trees and 

 clumps of low and wide-spreading bushes, are its favourite haunts. I found it very abundant at 

 Tyreel Station, on the Gwydir River, breeding in company with Stidoptcra bichenovii. It was 

 also fairly numerous near Moree, and I saw and examined several of their nests, which 

 contained eggs and young, in shrubs and trees in Mr. C. J. McMaster's garden at " Wilga." 



Writing of his experience of Tcrniopygia castanotis in the neighbourhood of the De Grey and 

 Coongan Rivers, in North-western Australia, while collecting there on behalf of Mr. H. L. 

 White, of Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales, Mr. F. Lawson Whitlock remarks : — " The 

 Chestnut-eared Finch is fairly common in the neighbourhood, but is never found far from water. 

 In particular it haunts the vicinity of wells provided with automatically fed sheep troughs. Old 

 nests of this species are much in evidence ; three or four are not uncommonly found in the same 

 bush. I found one also in a hollow spout of a gum tree, with the remarkable number of twenty 

 fresh eggs." 



From Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, I\Ir. H. G. Barnard sends me the following notes : — • 

 " Ticuiopygia castniwtis breeds in bushy shrubs or in the top of a hollow stump ; clutch four to six 

 eggs ; the height of the nest sent was six feet from the ground. I may here state that most 

 Finches roost at night in old nests, except when breeding, when the female only roosts in 

 the nest with the eggs ; all I have caught then have always proved to be females. About 

 two years ago, just after a shower of rain, I noticed a lot of Finches kept flying out of the grass 

 and catching something in the air ; on inspection it proved to be winged Termites, and on shooting 

 some of the birds I found their crops full of the ants. The Finches were Taniopygia castanotis 

 and Stictoptcra bichenovii. The nest taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard is rounded oval in form, with 

 a large entrance in the side, and is composed throughout of very fine dried grasses. It is thin 

 walled, and measures externally six inches in length by four and a half inches in breadth, and is 

 built between several thin upright forked branches of a shrub. 



From Burrenbilla, South-western Queensland, Mr. S. Robinson writes me : — "Ticniopygia 

 castanotis breeds all the year round, and almost anywhere, in hollow pipes, bushes and vines. At 

 present, 17th March, 1907, they are breeding in the rafters of the woolshed. They generally 

 lay five or six eggs, and sometimes start to build again in the same bush before their young ones 

 are able to fly." 



Mr. Thos. P. Austin sends the following notes from Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South 

 Wales : — "During my ten years residence in these parts, Taniopygia castanotis first appeared here 

 in 1908. They arrived in very large flocks in July and August, and although a few have remained 

 up till the present time (19th February, 1909), I have not noticed any breeding here. One 

 evening I saw a male bird enter a hollow bough ; upon giving it a hit with a tomahawk, out 

 flew about a dozen of these little birds. I cut the bough open, and found in it an old nest of 

 Cltmacteris scandens. These birds cannot go very long without water, and when going for a drink 

 they prefer to settle upon a dead branch projecting out of the water ; this they hop down, take 

 one sip, and fly off immediately. While fishing in the Talbragar River, I have often watched 

 them drinking in this way within a few yards of me." 



From Broken Hill, South-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgillivray has kindly 

 sent the following notes : — " Taniopygia castanotis is our only Finch, and is common throughout 

 the district. I first found it nesting on 5th May, 1901, in a Mulga, one nest with fresh eggs in 

 it. On 1 2th May, 1901, I found many of their nests in prickly Acacia bushes, containing young 

 birds and eggs, near a large dam ; some were also building. On 9th June, 1901, I noted that all 

 Finch nests were empty, nesting evidently being over. On 4th August, 1901, 1 noted that Chestnut- 



