280 



PLOCEID-E. 



Queensland by Mr. George Masters at Gayndah, Burnett River, in September, 1870, and by 

 the late Mr. George Barnard at Duaringa, on the Dawson River. The large numbers of these 

 birds one may see in the dealers' shops in Sydney are, I am informed, mostly sent by way of 

 Rockhampton. In North-western New South Wales I obtained specimens on the Gwydir River, 

 about seventy miles from the Queensland border ; also near Moree, where it was breeding in Mr. 

 C. J. McMaster's garden at " Wilga." Farther south and west Mr. R. Grant procured specimens 

 on Buckiinguy Station, near Warren ; also Mr. J. Hearne obtained examples near Dubbo. 



In the '-Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum"- Dr. R. B. Sharpe also records specimens 

 from North-western Australia. I have never seen a specimen in any collection, or living 

 examples from that part of the Continent. 



A nest taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard, in his garden at Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, is 

 almost spherical in form, with a projecting entrance formed, as is the entire structure, of thin 

 dried grasses, the interior being lined with fowls' feathers. It averages six inches in breadth 

 from back to front, by four inches in height, by one inch and three quarters across the entrance. 

 It is built between many thin upright forked branches of a shrub. At Moree I found nests built 

 at a height from four to twelve feet from the ground. 



Mr. H. G. Barnard sends the following note : — " Stictoptcra hichenovii generally breeds in 

 bushy shrubs from four to ten feet from the ground ; clutch, five to six. The Narrow-billed 

 Bronze Cuckoo ( Chalcococyx basalis) is fond of this bird as a foster-parent, as in one season I 

 took three eggs from three nests of this Finch, but I have never seen the Finches feeding a young 

 Cuckoo. The height of the nest forwarded was four feet from the ground." 



The eggs are usually five, sometimes six, in number for a sitting, oval in form, and of a 

 dull lustreless white. A set of four taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard, at Coomoobolaroo, Duaringa, 

 Queensland, on the 25th February, 1893, measures: — Length (A) o-6 x 0-42 inches; (B) 0-5 

 X 0-42 inches; (C)o-55 x 0-41 inches ; (D) 0-57 x 0-41 inches. Another set of five measures : — ■ 

 Length (A) 0-58 x 0-48 inches; (B) 0-56 x 0-4 inches ; (C) o-6 x 0-4 inches; (D) 0-62 x 0-43 

 inches; (E) 0-57 x 0-43 inches. A set of six, taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard at Bimbi, Duaringa, 

 Queensland, on the 6th May, 1908, measures : — Length (A) 0-58 x 0-47 inches; (B) 0-58 x 0-43 

 inches; (C) 0-56 x 0-43 inches; (D) 0-58 x 0-44 inches; (E) 0-57 x 0-45 inches; (F) o-6 

 X o'43 inches. 



In Northern New South Wales this species breeds during October and the three following 

 months. On the Dawson River, Queensland, Mr. H. G. Barnard informs me it commences to 

 breed after the rain, generally in February, and usually continues until June. 



Stictoptera annulosa. 



EINGED FINCH. 

 Amadina annulosa, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1839, p. 143. 

 Estrelda annulosa, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. III., pi. SI (1848). 



Stictoptera annulosa, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 410 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 314 (1890) ; North, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, Vol. IIL, 2ud ser., 

 p. 146 (1888). 

 Adult m.\le — Simihir to the adult male <//' Stictopter.\ bichenovii, but Jmving the rump and 

 n^jper tail -coverts entirely black ; bill light leaden-grey ; legs and feel leaden-grey ; iris black. Total 

 length ^ inches, wing 2, tail IS, bill OSS, tarsus fj'oo. 

 Adult fem.ale — Similar in plumage to the male. 



DistrihiUion — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia. 

 • Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 314 (1850). 



