295 



Poephila cincta. 



BANDED GRASS FINCH. 

 Amadina cincfa, Gould, Proc. /^ool. Soc, 1836, p. 105. 



Poephila cincta, Gould, Bds. Aust., fol. Vol. III., pi. 93 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., 

 p. 425 (1865); Sharpe, Oat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 376 (1890). 



Adult male — Crown of the head and nape grey; hind neck and upper portion of tlie back 

 cinnamon-broivn ; lower back brown ; the rump crossed tvith a black bar; upper tail-coverts white; 

 tail feathers black ; toings brown; forehead, ear-coverts and cheeks whitish-grey; lores and throat 

 black; remainder of the under surface cinnamon, the lower flanks crossed with a black bar ; vent and 

 under tail-coverts white; bill black; legs and feet red; iris black. Total length in the flesh 4'^ inches, 

 wing 2'4, tail I'fJ, bill 0'4, tarsus O'G. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 

 Distribution — Queensland. 



TT^V XCEPT in the extreme north the well-known Banded Grass Finch, or " Black-throat " 



J ^ of bird dealers, is freely distributed in the eastern portions of Queensland. Gould 



remarks that "this species is tolerably abundant on the Liverpool Plains, and the open country 

 to the northward towards the interior. It occurs so rarely on the sea side of the ranges, that I 

 only once met with it during my sojourn in New South Wales." As I have pointed out 

 elsewhere, I have never seen this species in any part of this State, or observed a specimen of it 

 in any of the numerous collections I have examined, or heard of any one finding it in a state of 

 nature in New South W'ales. 



It lives and breeds well in confinement, many young birds being reared in an a\iary 

 previously kept by Dr. E. P. Ramsay at the Australian Museum. 



The seeds of various grasses constitute the usual food of this species, but M. Octave Le Bon 

 informed me that numbers of birds he had trapped in Queensland were feeding on minute insects 

 found in grass lands. 



While resident at Ripple Creek, Herbert River, Queensland, Mr. J. A. Boyd sent me the 

 following notes: — "On the 25th March, i8gi, I found a nest of Poephila cincta containing 

 five unfledged young, and on the 14th April, 1891, I found another nest that seemed nearly 

 finished, and on visiting it a week later found it contained three eggs. On the 23rd November, 

 1893, I found a nest of this species with six eggs, one more than the usual number. These 

 birds are still breeding; I got a nest on the 13th November, 1894, with seven eggs, but all too 

 incubated to blow. On the 9th of the same month I found a new nest with one egg, built in the 

 sugar-cane leaves, the first I have noticed in such a position. The birds are breeding here very 

 late. I saw a nest with fresh eggs o{ Poephila cincta on the 9th April, 1896. I found a nest on the 

 5th March, 1897 ; the parent flew out, but I did not rob her. Last year was marked by a most 

 unusual absence of our two common Finches ; one might ride all day without seeing a specimen." 



Mr. H. G. Barnard, Duaringa, Queensland, writes me : — "Poephila cincta breeds at any time 

 when there is plenty of grass seed ; number of eggs in sets, from five to seven ; I have taken 

 seven in three sets, but five and six are the usual sets. The breeding places of this Finch vary 

 considerably, being placed in saplings from five feet from the ground to forty feet ; this little 

 bird is very fond of breeding in the sticks under Hawks' nests. I have found the nests built on 

 the under side of nests of the following species : — Uroaetus audax, Nisaetus ntovphnoides, Haliastur 

 spkenurus, Lophoictinia isiirn, Astttv approximans and Accipiter civrhocephalus. A nest of Nisaetus 

 morphnoides visited in September, 1906, contained one egg, with the young bird half out of the 



