54 LORIID.E. 



From Blackwood, South Australia, Mr. Fdwin Ashby writes: — '^ Gtossopsittnius piisilltis is 

 decidedly scarce among the hilk near Adelaide, but in upS they were everywhere, although in 

 nothing liUe such great numbers as G. pi^yphyroicphalui." 



1 'r. W . A. Ango\e sends me the following note from Tea-tree (iully, South Australia: — 

 " Glossopsittaiits piisilliis, in \ery small numbers, is with us most of the year, and frei|uents the 

 Blue Gum saplings. 1 have never known it to breed here." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. 1'. Austin writes me as 

 follows; — " GlosscpsitliUiis pniilliis remains here throughout the year in small flocks, but a great 

 many of them arrive about March, and most of them depart again before the breeding season 

 commences. Their nests are often \ery difficult to disco\'er, as it is usually a very small hole 

 on the top side of a limb, in such a position that it cannot be seen from the ground, but often in 

 the elbow of a limb of a tree, and unless one sees a bird go into the hole he will probably never 

 disturb the bird from its nest without climbing to it, as they are very close sitters. I have found 

 more of their nests by accident, that is when climbing to the nest of some other bird, than any 

 other way. I ha\ e found them nesting in the same tree as the Musk Lorikeet. (Jn the 2c;th 

 August, 190^, Mr. B. C. Cox and myself found in two trees growing within a few feet of each 

 other two nests of the Musk Lorikeet, one of the Little Lorikeet, and one of Barnard's Parrakeet 

 {lianiitrdiiii haniavdi), this being the only occasion I ha\'e seen the latter birds here." 



While 1 was on a \ isit to Cobborah Station, Mr. Austin climbed a dead Box tree, on the 

 14th October, 1909, and chopped into a hollow branch about forty five feet from the ijround, 

 in which he found two fresh eggs of the Little Lorikeet. On the following day he climbed 

 another tree on a bank of the Talbragar River, and found three young ones just ready to leave 

 the nesting-place. He also found in the same tree nesting-places of the Rose-hill Parrakeet and 

 the Red-rumped Parrakeet, both containing young birds. Another nesting-place of the Little 

 Lorikeet containing young birds was examined the following day, the sitting bird coming out 

 of the entrance hole on our arrival ; the site of this breeding-place was in a thick hollow green 

 branch, about fifteen feet above the water of the Talbragar Iviver. 



This species breeds in the hollow limb of a tree, and the entrance is usually small, and 

 has to be chopped away to secure the eggs. I also met with it breeding at Narrabri, in 

 November, i>^i)7, in large (lum trees, but failed to secure any eggs. \J\keGIossopsittaiUicoiiiin)ius, 

 although common at some seasons, I have never known it to breed in the neighbourhood of 

 Sydney. 



The eggs are usually four, rarely li\e. in number for a sitting, some specimens being almost 

 globular in form, others rounded-o\al, dull white, and usually nest-stained, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth and lustreless. A set of four taken by Mr. H. (j. Barnard at Coomooboolaroo, 

 Duaringa, on the Dawson River, (Queensland, on the jjth August, 1^93, measure: — Length (.A) 

 077 X o-hy inches ; (B) 0.8 x 0-67 inches; (C) 0-82 x 0-62 inches; (D) 0-75 x 0-67 inches. 

 A set of three taken by Mr. Barnard in the same locality, on the ist September, 1895, measure : — 

 Length (A) 0-8 x o-Ti^ inches; (B) 0-78 x 0-65 inches ; (C) o-8 x 0-64 inches. Another set of 

 four was taken on the loth September, 1893. x\ set of four eggs in Mr. Thos. P. Austin's 

 collection, taken at Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, from a nesting-place in a 

 hollow branch of a dead Box tree, seventy feet from the ground, measure : — Length (A) o-8i x 

 0-64 inches; (B) o-8 x 0-67 inches ; (C) o'8 x o'67 inches; (D) 0-79 x o'67 inches ; (E) o-8 

 X o'66 inches. .V set of two i\Iusk Lorikeet's eggs were taken in the same tree on the same 

 day. A set of fi\'e Little Lorikeets' eggs were found on the ist August, 1908, but two eggs 

 were broken by the chips falling on them. 



A young bird taken from a nesting-place in the hollow of a tree at Cobborah Station, 

 Cobbora, on the 14th October, ujoc^, resembled the adult, but the red face was smaller and 



