CALVl'lllKHYNCIIUS. (><) 



tliat point. They breed in the laii^'e timber along the course of the I'inke, Ilu'^hand Todd 

 Rivers. I am indebted to Mr. C. !•:. Covvie for a number of their eggs taken in the localities 

 indicated. Two eggs constitute the usual clutch, but sometimes only one is laid. They vary 

 considerably in size, shape and texture of shell. Whilst some are smooth, others are rou-h 

 with a number of limy excrescences on the shell. These birds live well in captivity if fed on 

 maize." 



Cd/vpt.'i-hyiulnis ii/ihiviliviu litis is a Northern and North-western Australian form of C. I;iiiksi. 

 Typically, as its name implies, it may be distinguished chieHy by its larger bill. In February, 

 igog, I examined a fine old adult male in the possession of Mr. F. Kruger, who had procured it 

 some time before from the neighbourhood of Pine Creek, in the Northern Territory of South 

 Australia. It had been about eighteen months in confmement, and was, when he first received 

 it, feeding on maize, wheat and water-melon seeds. Ciradually Mr. Kruger changed the diet, 

 and when I saw him he was contentedly feeding entirely on canary seed, picking up one seed at 

 a time, and carefully husking it liefore eating the grain. .Although it had been so long in 

 captivity, it would not allow anyone to handle it, and an attempt by its owner to turn it round 

 with his hand resulted in the bird biting him. During the whole of the time I saw it, on two 

 occasions, it remained on the perch at the back of the ca.ge. with the head thrown back and 

 wide spread mandibles. A skin of an adult male in the .\ustralian Museum Collection, received in 

 the flesh from the Council of the New South Wales Zoological Society, Moore Park, and 

 obtained on the Nicholson l\'i\er, an affluent of the Gregory River, which takes its rise 

 in the eastern portion of the Northern Territory of South Australia, and tlows into the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, in Northern Queensland, is precisely similar in [jiumage to specimens 

 procured in New South Wales, except that the bill, especially the lower mandible, instead of 

 being larger, is smaller and narrower than that of southern examples. While typically the bills 

 of specimens from the Northern Territory and North-western Australia are larger, there is proof 

 that it is by no means a constant character. When one has to ask the locality of a specimen, 

 before supplying a name, it is time that all these forms should be united under that of the lirst 

 described species, Cahptorliymhtu Inviksi, which is also the type of the genus. In addition, too, 

 intermediate stages of plumage are found between these described forms, as well as variations, 

 even when obtained in the same locality. I freely acknowledge, however, that one can occasionally 

 pick specimens from South-western Australia, and Northern and North-western Australia, 

 agreeing with both of these described forms, Calyptorhyiu-lius sttllatiis and C. iiuiavrhriuliiis. Gould, 

 in separating the latter, compared it with C. coflkl (= C.vindis, \'ieillot) instead of its closer ally 

 C. banks:. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland has sent me the following note :—'' Culyptorliyihiins iihuivrliviiduis is 

 confined to the northern portion of Australia. It is usually found in pairs, or in small companies, 

 presumably parents and young, but about a month after the young ones leave the nest they 

 congregate in flocks of from twenty to thirty. These birds are fond of the small black native 

 fig, but their principal food is the bulb of a species of water lily, which they find on the mar-in 

 or in the bed of dried up swamps. After searching for the bulbs they generally walk to the 

 water for a drink before taking flight. Nestlings are evenly sprinkled with small white spots." 



Mr. Percy Peir, of Marrick\ille, Sydney, sends me the following notes: — "A female 

 Calyptflrhynchus inncvorhyncliiis was received from a friend in Port Darwin, which he had reared 

 up to the picking stage on oatmeal and boiled wheat. Whilst in my possession it throve on 

 Sunflower and Canary seed, also corn, which it cracked up to a fine powder. It was a 

 very destructive bird, as on one occasion, when placed in the bathroom during the absence of 

 the household, it was found on our return that the bird had stripped the wood flashing of 

 is 



