12 Frocecdings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



the under surface. Corresponding with the three phrases of the 

 crown are three phases in the red of the under surface — light, 

 medium and strong. 



An examination of the following phases has shown me, first, 

 that the white frontal mark may appear in the brown plumage 

 phase or not until the bright red and deep black feathers of a 

 late stage have come ; the latter being the exception or in the 

 minority of cases ; second, that the orange red of the throat, 

 chest and breast in the majority of cases does not appear until 

 some twelve months have elapsed, but that the nestling or young 

 may have (a) stray orange-red feathers on the breast, (^) a uni- 

 form very pale-red breast, (c) a uniform brown breast, which is 

 the general case ; in the third place, the black quills and distinct 

 white markings to them, appear as the bird is undergoing its 

 second moult. The throat does not become uniform red till the 

 second moult is effected. The scarlet red of the adult does not 

 appear within at least two years, and the flame-red, three. 



Although I have had no opportunity to examine a phase 

 actually from the nest, many of its feathers, if not all, are seen 

 in Phase B, which is, in my opinion, practically a nestling with a 

 longer wing and tail. It is still an open question, and I have 

 thought it better to leave a doubtful gap rather than wait, 

 possibly years, to find and record it under these remarks Phase 

 B is recently out of the nest and retains the back feathers of the 

 nestling, judged by analogy. At the same time it shows its 

 first plumage to have pale orange-red feathers on the chest, which 

 is not so in four of thQ five stages of Phase C, and but feebly in 

 the fourth stage of Phase C. In addition there is a small white 

 frontal mark that is not in the far advanced Phase E (which is 

 brown), though represented in certain stages of Phase C. The 

 five stages of Phase C are birds in brown plumage and except in 

 one case, C4, where there are particles of very faint red about 

 the breast, there is no red. The strong white of the forehead 

 clearly shown in C5, is scarcely visible in C„ while in the inter- 

 mediate stages it varies. The distinct white wing bar of the adult 

 is represented in C, by a bar of buff, which varies gradually be- 

 tween Cj and Cj, in the latter being a fairly clear white, but not 

 the strong white of the mature bird. The under tail coverts of C, 

 are not so white as in C,. Phase D shows two of its stages to 



