THICllOtiLOSiUS. 43 



PVom Blackwood, South Australia, Mr. Edwin Asiiby writes me : — " During the last six 

 years I have only seen one pair of Tn'ckof^/ossiis ;w;v,-;-/;,'//,;;/(fe in the neighbourhood of Blackwood, 

 but this year has been a remarkable exception. From the loth May, 190S, small flocks of from 

 ten to twelve individuals were continually visiting the IJlue Gums in my garden, and at an 

 earlier date than this flocks were visiting the gardens on the plains, where they were eating 

 pears. Xow at the end of August they have almost disappeared from our neighbourhood. I 

 have been over twenty years in South Australia, and have never before seen this species in such 

 numbers." 



Dr. W. A. Angove sends me the following note from Tea-tree Gully, near Adelaide : — 

 " Trichoglossus iiova-hol/andiie is scarce, although there are practically always a few about. They 

 nest in the I'eppermint Gums about Mount Crawford, in the Barossa Scrub." 



For the purposes of breeding, like nearly all the species of this Order inhabiting Australia, 

 it resorts to a hole in a tree, sometimes in a dead hollow branch, but often in a living one, the 

 eggs being deposited on the decaying wood found in these cavities ; the height is usually 

 from twenty to sixty feet from the ground. At Copmanhurst, on the Upper Clarence River, all 

 the nesting places of Trichoglossus novcc-Iiollandi,T and T. ihloyolepidoins pointed out to me by Mr. 

 George Savidge, were in different species of Eucalyptus, some of them in dead trees whose branches 

 were insufficient to bear the weight of a young Aborigine whom he used to employ to procure 

 them. It was wonderful to watch how rapidly the latter could ascend, without any apparent 

 exertion, the thick dead trunk of one of these trees, with the smallest notch holes in which to 

 insert his toes. With open palms and wide-spread fingers he reminded me of a huge lizard as 

 he ascended to the nesting-places of either species. All I saw in that district were mostly in 

 large timber. 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, and vary from rounded-oval to oval in form ; 

 others are slightly pyriform at the smaller end. They are dull white, and are usually much 

 nest-stained, from the decayed wood on which they are laid, so much so, that some are of a 

 uniform pale-brown hue; the shell is smooth and lustreless. A set of two taken by Mr. H. G. 

 Barnard at Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Oueensland, on the 2;5rd November, i8y2, measure :— 

 Length (A) i-i x o-y inches; (B) r.o8 -1- 0-9 inches. A set of two taken by Mr. G. Savidge at 

 Copmanhurst, on the Upper Clarence River, on the 21st June, 18(^3, measure: — Length (.\) 

 I-I2 X 0-93 inches; (B) i-ii x 0-92 inches. Another set, taken by Mr. Savidge in the same 

 locality on the 6th July, 1896, measure— Length (A) 1-25 x 0-94 inches; (B) i-i8 x 0-92 inches. 



1 he breeding season is variable, as will be seen by the previously quoted notes. On the 

 Herbert River, North-eastern Oueensland, Mr. J. H. Boyd observed young in May, October 

 and November, and also records it breeding in December and January. In 1893 I received 

 from Mr. H. G. Barnard three sets taken by him that year at Coomooboolaroo, respectively on 

 the 23rd August, the 23rd September and the 23rd October. At Copmanhurst, Upper Clarence 

 River, New South Wales, Mr. Savidge has taken eggs as early as June, and has observed 

 young birds at the latter end of July, also in August, and again in January and February. 



Trichoglossus rubritorquis 



RED-COLLARED LORIKEET. 



Trichoghi^sus Tnhritoriials,\\». a.nd WoT&i., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV,, p. 291 (1826) ; Goiikl, 

 Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. V., pi. 49 (1848); id., Handbk. Bd.s. Austr., Vol. II., p. 9-5 (186-5) ; 

 North, Vict. Nat., Vol. XVI., p. 12 (1899). 



