1^6 MiLLlGAN, Notes on Trip to Y andanooka District , W .A. [,sf^pril 



Gould's grounds of distinction between the adult males of the 

 two species were that the ear coverts, lores, and the region around 

 the eyes of P. jalcata were grey or ashy-grey instead of black as 

 in P. rufiventris. But these distinguishing marks are not constant, 

 and are found in both species. I secured two adult males at Ebano, 

 one having those parts black, and the other having them grey, but 

 in all other respects identical. Then, again, I looked at two adult 

 male skins obtained by Dr. House in the far north, in the Kimberley 

 expedition, one of which possessed these parts black and the other 

 grey. Comparing skins from Perth, Yandanooka, and the Kim- 

 berley district, there is not any difference in any one form except 

 that the Kimberley birds are not so flaky and loose in the 

 plumage as the southern ones. The difference between the 

 female birds from the same localities is that in the northern species 

 the longitudinal brown streaks of the breast are much more 

 narrow ; but this, again, is variable, for I have handled a skin 

 obtained at Moore River, about loo miles north of Perth, where 

 these lines in the female were very much more narrow than in 

 the birds at Yandanooka, i6o miles farther north. 



Individuals of the species were very numerous at Yandanooka- 

 Ebano, their melodious voices filling the scrub-lands. They have 

 one distinctive call, which they frequently use in the middle day. 

 It resembles the sound of the word " Joey," and is repeated in a 

 high, penetrating tone fully twenty times without taking breath. 



Barnardius zonarius (Shaw) ; Psephotus multicolor (Temm.) — 

 When at Ebano the native cattle-minder brought in four young 

 birds of the latter species just ready to fly, and on our return 

 journey from Ebano to Yandanooka we harried a nest of the 

 former species and obtained four young ones in the same condition. 

 One only of the Grass-Parrakeets lived (a male bird), and I have him 

 in captivity, and I have also one of the Yellow-collared Parrakeets. 

 My object in mentioning these species is not on account of their 

 rarity, but of the plumage phases of the young. Each bird has 

 proved to be a most lovable and docile pet. The tail of each began 

 to grow most rapidly in length — quite an inch per week until the 

 normal length was attained. The moult began simultaneously in 

 each bird, about ten weeks after leaving the nest. In the Grass- 

 Parrakeet the brownish feathers of the back have changed into a 

 dark grass-green ; the thighs have become vermilion ; the frontal 

 band and shoulder-patch changed from light yellow to a deep 

 orange-yellow ; and the porphyry-coloured patch on the back of 

 the head has become a deep maroon. In the Collared Parrakeet 

 the abdomen was almost yellow, but this has now changed to pale 

 green, leaving a yellow band lietween the abdomen and the breast. 

 The smoke-coloured head has changed to dull black, and the 

 forehead shows here and there a brick-red spot. In the adult bird 

 it is said there is not any frontal red band as in B. semitorquatiis. 

 Perhaps the red spots referred to may afterwards disappear, and 

 may only be evidences of the original type. In feeding my captive 

 {B. zonarius) holds his food between the hallux and first toe, these 



