Vol. XXI. 



1922 



] WHITLOCK, Notes from NuUarhor Plain. 183 



inas occupy only very small areas, as a rule, he is always close 

 at hand. More than once he betrayed the nest through remain- 

 ing in a tree near at hand. In flying towards, and away from, 

 the nest, both birds utter a soft flute-like "cloote, cloote." This 

 note is modified at times into a sound, impossible to write down 

 on paper. When perched side by side, on the limb of a tree, 

 the usual parrot-like chattering cries are indulged in, and the 

 male at intervals feeds the female with the half-digested food 

 from his crop. 



In the breeding season the greater part of the food is procured 

 in the dongas, but the first birds I met with were nipping oft' pink 

 blooms from a small flowering shrub, the half developed seed ves- 

 sel being eaten, and the petals falling to the ground. An introduced 

 species of blue Crane's F)ill was very plentiful in the dongas, and 

 the crops of birds examined were crammed with the seeds, in a 

 green state. Occasionally pairs may be met with under large 

 bushes, where green herbage is growing, but this is rather ex- 

 ceptional. 



The Naretha Parrot appears to be a gregarious species, and 

 even during the breeding season, half a dozen or more birds 

 may be seen feeding together. The largest party I saw was a 

 flock of over thirty. These, when carefully scrutinised with the 

 aid of a field-glass, ap])eared to be all in the plumage peculiar to 

 a bird a year old. This ])lumage is much duller than that of a 

 fully-fledged nestling, and the upper parts have rather a streaky 

 grey appearance. The nestling, on the other hand, resembles 

 more the adult. Even the row of spots, on the under side of 

 the flight feathers, which denote immaturity in Parrots, is only 

 slightly developed. The color of the bill, however, is very 

 distinct. Instead of the bluish-white of the adult, it is of a 

 consi)icuous light brown. As the nestling gets older this grad- 

 ually fades to a greenish yellow, and from that to the same as in 

 the adult. 



On the eastern goldfields September is the usual breeding 

 month for parrots ; and it was a great surprise to me to find 

 young in a nest a fortnight after my arrival at Naretha. On 

 August 24th I was examining a group of casuarinas adjacent 

 to a donga, where Naretha Parrots were feeding. I noticed the 

 edges of a hole in the trunk of a casuarina appeared to be 

 polished by the entry and egress of some living creature. I 

 procured a slender stick, and gently probed the hole. The re- 

 sult was an angry screech, followed by a full "bag-pipe" chorus. 

 A female was inside brooding a family of young. Further 

 search in a neighboring ])atch of casuarinas revealed a second 

 nest hole, where a similar state of things prevailed. The 

 nest hole in the first instance was very small, and about five feet 

 from the ground, the nest chamber being nearly two feet below 

 the entrance. In the second case the nest hole was about two 

 feet from the foot of the tree, and subsequent examination 

 proved that the eggs had been actually laid on the earth inside 



