124 PI.ATYCERCIN'.E. 



tJte (ijiical lull/' ix pale hhip tiiiju'd tritli irhitr ; i-lifieks trhilc : all tJie iiiiih r sid-farr pnle bJiir : inii/nr 

 f.ail-cort'r/i< scnrli/. Tidal J^'injlli in (hr jleslt l-l inc/n's, tviiKj r,-^,, /ail /', AiV/ n-S, /arsus 7. 



Adult female. — Similar in jiliimai/r lo tlii- inalf. 



ZJi.>Yci7)«//o?t— ( jiieensland, Northern New South Wales. 



N no species of the t<enus P/atvuiriis is individual variation so marked as in the l'ale-headi_-d 

 Parrakeet, or " Moreton Bay Rosalia." The above described specimen is what I re,<,'ard 

 as the typical and more commonly met with form, but it is possible for one to obtain a dozen or 

 more \ariations of it. Many specimens have the fore-neck white or pale yellowish-white. 

 Scattered red feathers may be found on the crown of the head, nape, ear-coverts and rump, or 

 in the form of a narrow band on the forehead. Others are very much darker on the under pans, 

 especially the skins of birds that ha\e been kept in captivity, and due probably to the altered 

 nature of their food. The cheeks in some may be altogether white, or the lower portion deep 

 blue. Of two remarkably plumaged specimens in the Australian iXIuseum Reference Collection, 

 and showing a tendency to albinism, one, an adult male obtained by iMr. H. G. Barnard at 

 Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, (,)ueensland, on the 17th June, 1897, has an indistinct narrow 

 reddish band on the forehead : crown and sides of head yellowish-white, and of a richer yellow- 

 on the hind-neck, upper portion of back white, the apical half of the feathers yellow; scapulars 

 white, slightly washed with yellow and crimson ; some of the wing-co\erts and quills white, or 

 partially white, and the foreneck and upper portion of the breast pale yellowish-white. The 

 other, an adult female, also procured by Mr. H. G. Barnard at Bimbi, Duaringa, on the i6th 

 September, 1905, is somewhat similar, but has the rump and upper tail-co\erts white, with a 

 faint greenish-blue wash on the latter, and one of the central pair of tail-feathers is white; most 

 of the lesser and median upper wing-coverts and the primary-coverts are white ; all the 

 under surface white with a faint yellowish tinge to the feathers on the fore neck and breast, the 

 apical portion of some of the feathers of the latter and of the thighs pale blue; inider wing- 

 co\erts white. 



The range of Platyccrais piillidltcps e.xtends from the neighbourhood of the Herbert River, 

 south throughout the greater portion of Queensland into Northern New South \\'ales. It is 

 represented in the Australian Museum Collection by specimens from the coastal districts of I'ort 

 Denison and Moreton Bay, and inland from the Dawson River, Chinchilla and other portions 

 of Central and Western Queensland. Except in the extreme north, it does not occur in the 

 coastal districts of New South Wales, and is but sparingly distiibuted in the northern and 

 central portions of the State. I met with it in November, i>iyj, on the Mehi and Gwydir Rivers, 

 about seventy miles from the Queensland border. It was breeding during the titne of my visit 

 in the ring-barked and dead trees, so only one specimen was obtained in bleached and abraded 

 plumage. 



From Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, Mr. II. G. Barnard sends me the following notes: — 

 " Platyccrais pallidiccps breeds at almost any time, as I have taken their eggs in February, i\Iarch 

 and April, and again from June to December. The general time is, however, from June to 

 November. The eggs, four to six in number for a sitting, are generally from one to two feet 

 from the entrance. I found a nest on the loth August, 190S, with young ones. On the 6th 

 March, 1909, I took a set of five fresh eggs in a dead Gum tree. The entrance to the nesting-place 

 was seventy-four feet, and lifty-two feet to the first limb. It was hard work cutting steps in the 

 dead wood. This nesting-place was the highest I have ever seen of this species. Of two 

 nests taken in March, 1909, in the first the eggs were two feet six inches below the entrance, and 

 in the second just two feet. Other nests I have taken at a depth of tive feet from the entrance. 

 ne\er more, and on one occasion so near the entrance that a slight depression in the decayed 

 wood and dust was the only thing that kept the eggs from rolling out of the hole. The distance 



