Vol. III. 

 1904 



Milligan, Notes on a Tri [> to the Wongan Hills, W.A. 225 



Parrots from the base of a small bush, just on the verge of the 

 lake country. Following them to the tree in which they alighted 

 I shot one, which turned out to be a non-breeding male of 

 Psephotus multicolor , remarkable inasmuch as his bill was pale 

 pink and that the cere at the base of the upper mandible was 

 quite flexible and soft to the touch. The humeral feathers were 

 very red, and the partially concealed transverse black band on 

 the under surface of tail feathers was very clearly defined. In 

 another instance I saw the parent birds and their young flying 

 about. 



Another surprise was to find Eopsaltria gularis at the base of 

 the Hills in the heavy timber. The species, however, was very 

 rare, and it was not until the last day but two before leaving the 

 Hills that I secured one, which happened to be attending to the 

 wants of a young Bronze Cuckoo. On the following afternoon 

 I secured another specimen, which turned out to be a young 

 bird. Comparing the one adult bird obtained with a number of 

 adult skins secured at different times on the coast, I found the 

 former to be much smaller and the yellow colour of the upper 

 parts to encompass the upper tail coverts only, and not the 

 lower back. In the absence of a series of skins nothing can be 

 done at present but to record the differences. 



Of the Honey-eaters deserving note we shot several specimens 

 of my ornithological " godchild," Melithreptus leucogenys. In 

 every specimen the eye-zones were yellow and the orbits bluish - 

 emerald, and the other characteristics upon which I distinguished 

 it from the Eastern form were also constant. We obtained 

 several skins of Ptilotis cratitia, which were fairly numerous. 

 Glycyphila albifrons were very numerous, and we obtained and 

 saw many nests and eggs. They are restless, vivacious, swift- 

 flying birds, with a variety of call notes. One in particular 

 (their feeding note) resembles the repeated monosyllables " chink, 

 chink." I shot two young birds in different localities, each of 

 which had a bright yellow throat. The bill of one of these two 

 birds was abnormally long, even as compared with adult birds 

 of the same species. 



The Psittacidae family was not well represented in either 

 species or individuals. We obtained three specimens of Platy- 

 cercus icterotis. I was in hopes when shooting them they would 

 prove Count Salvadori's Platycercus xanthogenys, having cherished 

 the notion for many years past that this latter species, which up 

 to the present is only represented in the cabinet by one skin, 

 will be found in one of the dry inland areas where the eucalypts 

 are not found. This notion was grounded on the theory of 

 protective colouration. The green colouring on the mantle of 

 P. icterotis (the absence of which establishes P. xanthogenys) 

 would in such areas make its possessor always conspicuous, and 

 in consequence an easy prey for its enemies, and in time would 

 lead to its extermination. Birds of the same species without 

 such colouring, and less conspicuous, would have an infinitely 



