301 



cruusoii and their inner webs brown; centre of forehead and crown of the head and neck dark ashy- 

 brown, with a purplish-black lustre on the forehead and crown of the head; lores, a line of feathers 

 over the eye, sides of face, ear-coverts and under surface of the body rich crimson-red, some of the 

 feathers on the sides of the breast with small rounded ivhite spots ; centre of lower breast, abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts Mack; bill red, lighter at the base; legs and feet dingy fleshy-yelloiv. Total 

 length 5 inches, wing 2, central tail-feathers 2:5, bill 0-^, tarsus 0-55. 



Adult T^nh-LV.— Differs from the adult male in having the centre of forehead and crown of the 

 head ashy-brown like the back, the latter having only a few feathers tipped with dull crimson; the 

 crimson of the lores, sides of face and throat is duller in colour, and the fore neck and breast ashy- 

 brown, the latter similarly spotted with while at the sides; the centre of the lotoer breast and abdomen 

 li.jht fulvous-broivn, becoming slightly darker on the under tail-coverts. 



D/s/ni»^jo;/-North-western Australia, Northern Territory of Soutlr Australia, Queensland. 



M, 



M. Hombron and Jacquinot described the type of this species in 1841 from a specimen 

 ^ ^ . collected at Raffles Bay, in the Northern Territory of South Australia. In February, 

 1879 the late Mr. Alexander Morton, collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum, obtained a fine series of specimens at Port Essington. Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late 

 Mr. T. H. Bowyer-Bower, procured a number of examples in 1886 in the vicmity of Derby, 

 North-western Australia, Mr. G. A. Keartland obtained specimens near the junction of the 

 Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, and M. Octave Le Bon trapped many live birds at Goose Lagoon, 

 in the neighbourhood of Wyndham. It is a common species in the coastal districts of Eastern 

 Queensland ; Mr. K. Broadbent obtained specimens at Cardwell, Mr. J. A. Boyd found it breedmg 

 freely in the Herbert River District, and Mr. George Masters procured specimens at Port 

 Denison in September, 1864. 



A .Geographical variation is apparent in adult males obtained at Cardwell and Port Denison 

 in Queensland, and the vicinity of Derby, North-western Australia. They may be readily 

 distin^^uished by having the upper portion of the head a uniform brown, and lacking the purplish 

 black lustre on the forehead and crown of the head of typical examples procured at Port 

 Essington. In their original description M. M. Hombron and Jacquinot describe the head as 

 dark blue. 



The following interesting information, relative to the nesting habits of the Crimson Finch, 

 or " Blood Finch" as it is called by bird dealers, has been extracted from letters received by me at 

 various times from Mr. J. A. Boyd, while resident at Ripple Creek, Herbert River, Queensland 

 to whom I am also indebted for the nest and many sets of eggs of this species :-" After several 

 attempts resulting either in young birds or empty nests, I obtained on the 9th December, 1889, 

 a nest of Ncochnna phaeton, containing eight eggs, all more or less incubated. On the 31st 

 December I took a nest which I had been watching for some time. It was built in the thatch 

 of the calf pen, and I had seen the birds carrying in quantities of fowl feathers, but for some 

 reason or other they had deserted it without laying. I found a nest on the 15th November, 1891. 

 It was built among the butts of the fallen leaves of a Pandanns tree, and was formed of " Blady- 

 grass" and thickly lined with breast feathers of Anas supcrciliosa. The nest was just about 

 finished and a week later I took from it five fresh eggs. On the same day I saw a cock bird 

 emerge from another nest; it was empty, and when I returned a week later to take it a rat 

 bolted through the side and got away in the grass ; needless to say there were no eggs. These 

 birds frequently build nests and never lay in them, no less than five nests I found recently 

 turning out blanks. Last year one pair made three nests and only laid one egg, and now the 

 same pair of birds have just left their first nest. To-day one of the boys came in triumph with 

 a nest and the female in his hand, and then found that the four eggs had fallen through the 

 bottom of the nest and were lost. One pair has built in the verandah of the school house. 



