22 



mates somewliere, and as there are so few Redhead 

 hens, they have nothing else to do but to pair up with 

 the Blackheads, and this is what they do. In pairing 

 up in this manner it seems of little or no consequence 

 whether it be a Redhead cock and Blackhead hen, or 

 vice-versa. Their young are always true, either Red- 

 heads or Blackheads. We have seen many cases 

 where they have been mixed, perhaps there have been 

 two Redheads and three Blackheads. 



We have many times caught the adults of the two 

 varieties, together with their brood, and in most cases 

 the young were of both kinds. We very seldom 

 come across a pair of Redheads though. The only 

 possible way to find out these facts is by handling 

 them in large quantities as we do. 



They do not make an elaborate nest as some 

 suppose, in fact, in their native state, they do it rather 

 in a slovenly fashion. On one occasion when Mr. 

 Payne was riding through the bush, he saw a Gouldian 

 fly out from a low iron bark tree. Upon pulling down 

 the branch, from where it had flown out, it snapped 

 ofi". In this branch there was a small hole, which 

 acted as an inlet to the interior of the branch, inside 

 of which was a Gouldian's nest with four eggs. This 

 is an instance of how they will crawl into any hole 

 and lay their eggs. We could quote scores of similar 

 cases ; in fact we have known them build their nest 

 in the whim of an old shaft of a disused mine. 

 * -H- ->•' 



A BIRD TRAPPING EXPEDITION IN NORTHERN 



QUEENSI^AND. 



We left Townsville, a seaport situated in Northern 

 Queensland, for a trip overland to the Gulf of Car- 



