PII.STES. 109 



Essinf^ton and the adjacent notth-western portions of Australia, with the red-winged birds from 

 the east coast, I think but little doubt will remain on their minds that they are distinct from 

 each other. The former are smaller than the latter in all their admeasurements, except in the 

 bill, which is rather larger." With a series of eight specimens before me collected by the late 

 Mr. Alex. Morton at Port Essington, Yam Creek and l^Jrt Darwin, also two specimens collected 

 by Mr. E. J. Cairn in 1886 at Derby, North-western .\ustralia, I cannot agree with that opinion, 

 and hold that the birds from Eastern, Northern and North-western Australia are all of the same 

 species, I'listts n-\'t/inftcnis. The wing-measurement of three adult males obtained at Port 

 Essington is 7-2, 7-3 and 7-4 inches respectively, of the adult males procured at Derby 7-4 and 

 77 inches, of three adult males obtained in Queensland, on the flower Dawson River, Port 

 Denison and Gayndah 7-25, 7-6 and 7-9 inches respectively. It will thus he seen that some 

 northern and north-western birds are as large, and even larger than some from North-eastern 

 Australia, and there is a variation in wing-measurements of birds procured in the same State, 

 and even at the same locality. In two specimens only from North-western Australia is the 

 crimson wing patch of the adult male slightly smaller ; in the remainder it is in listmguishable 

 in size and colour from that of eastern birds. 



An adult male in the AustralijKi Museum Collection has small yellowish tips to the outer 

 webs of some of the median secondaries, which is also slightly tinged with red on the thigh. 

 Another one has the outer primary of one wing yellow, while a third specimen has two pure 

 yellow feathers on the crown of the head. 



Dr. W. ;\Iacgillivray writes me as follows relati\'e to this species in the Cloncurry District, 

 .Northern (Queensland : — " Ftistis ervtliivptcnis is always about. I ha\-e often noted it feeding 

 upon the honey-laden flowers of the Bauhiuia trees." 



Mr. H. G. Barnard, of Binibi, Duaringa, Queensland, sends me the following note : — " Ftistcs 

 ci-ythroptcnis selects a large hollow tree to breed in, and frequently the eggs are deposited on the 

 soft dirt thirty feet from the entrance. I have never found them nearer the entrance than ten 

 feet; the male bird is away all day, returning about sundown; he sits on a neighbouring tree 

 and whistles till the female leaves the nest, when tliey fly some distance ofl to a tree, where the 

 male feeds his mate, .\fter the feeding is over the female returns to the nest, and the male flies 

 away for the night. Four or five eggs are laid for a sitting, and occasionally six. September 

 to the end of December is the usual breeding season." 



Mr. 1'^. 11. Lane, of Orange, New South Wales, writes me: — '-The only nest I ever found 

 of Ptistfs ciythroptci'Hs was near Wambangalang Station, Dubbo District. It was situated in the 

 hollow trunk of a Box tree, about seventeen or eighteen feet from the ground, and contained 

 one fresh egg lying on the decayed wood about twenty inches from the large opening. The tree 

 was close to a small creek, and not more than fifty or sixty yards from a selector's dwelling. 

 Hoping to get a full set of eggs I left the one, and visited the nest again after four days, but to 

 my intense disgust I found it empty, probably robbed by one of the numeious Lace Lizards 

 in that locality. It was durmg the month of tJctober 1897 or 1898." 



Mr. Robert Grant, Taxidermist of the .Australian Museum, has handed me the following 

 notes : — " The Red-winged Lory (Ftistcs crvthroptcnts) was in former years not uncommon on the 

 Macquarie River, at Narromine, New South Wales, where I found these beautiful birds breeding 

 in holes in the dead branches of the large Eiicdlypti on the ri\er banks. Once, when camped 

 there in the middle of November, 1882, I watched a pair going in and out of a hole in a tree, 

 and evidently feeding their young. For a small sum a black-boy went up the tree and brought 

 down three small nestlings. .As my camp was close to the tree from which the young ones were 

 taken, the old birds could hear them, and they would come circling around my tent. I made a 

 rough nest of bark and grass, and placing the young ones in it put it in a bush close by, but the 



