PLATYCKIiCUS. 125 



from the ground to the nestin^'-hole also varies ;,'reatly, as I ha\'e taken ecjgs from a stump, the 

 entrance hole of which was only six feet from the ground, and again, as stated before, at a height 

 of over se\enty feet. This species breeds at almost any time of the year." 



i\Ir. Robert Grant has handed me the following note : — " When collecting towards the latter 

 end of iSS2,on an adjoining run to Glenariff Station, I was surprised by flushing a pair of' Moreton 

 Bay Rosalias ' from a W'ilga tree. They settled on another tree some distance away, and I at 

 once followed them up, and was fortunate in procuring both birds, which proved to be male and 

 female. This was the only time I have seen I'l ilyuTiiis paUidiicps in that part of New South 

 Wales." Glenariff is four hundred and forty-six miles west of Sydney, and about fourteen miles 

 from hlyrock. 



For the purposes of breeding it resorts to a hollow limb of a tree, usually a gum, depositing 

 trom four t(j six eggs on the decaying wood or dust found in these cavities. 



The eggs are elliptical, oval, or rounded-oval in form, pure white, but are usually more or 

 less stained with the decayed w'l jd on which they are laid, the shell being close-grained and 

 smooth. Of four sets now before me two are entirely dull and lustreless, the others have a very 

 slight lustre. They were all taken by Mr. H. G. IJarnard. and three sets measure as follows : — 

 A set of five taken at Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, (Queensland, on the igth i\Iarch, 1893 • — Length 

 (A) ro7 X o'S5 inches ; (B) 1-03 x 0-84 mches ; (C) f02 x 0-85 inches; (D) i'04 x o'86 

 inches; (R) i x o-8i inches. .\ set of four taken at Ilimlii, Duaringa, on the gth September, 

 190S: — Length (A) 1-07 x 0'88 inches ; (B) 1-03 x o-.Sj inches; (C) foy x 0-84 inches; (D) 

 i'05 X 0-87 inches. A set of five taken in the same locality on the 25th September, 1908: — 

 Length ( A) o'o3 x o-8 inches ; (Yi) o-gy x o-8 inches; (C) 0-05 x ovS inches ; (D)o-94 x 0-82 

 inches; (E) 0-96 x 079 inches. 



Young birds resemble the adults but are paler, and the feathers of the forehead and ctown 

 of the head are dull red, the feathers of the under parts are very much paler, and some of them 

 on the breast and abdomen have yellowish-green margins, under tail-coverts dull scarlet. Wing 

 6 inches. 



The time of breedmg varies with the season, as will be seen by Mr. Barnard's notes. After 

 a good rainfall this species breeds as freely in March as it does in September, but it nests at all 

 times of the year. 



Platvicicns maitiniaum, Ramsay, the type of which I ha\e before me, is not a species, but an 

 hybrid ; from the blue cheeks, large amount of red feathers on the head, upper back and rump 

 apparently between Plntyccrcus eltx'aiis and P. pallidid-ps. On the under surface, with the exception 

 of a few scattered crimson feathers on the chest, the plumage is similar to that of the latter 

 species. 



P/(j/ ivc; (-.75- (!;;/(((■ /;hs/(7, Gould, is a northern race of P. /(z/Z/i/ZiY/s inhabitmg the Cape York 

 Peninsula. Specimens from the neighbourhood of Cairns, (.Uieensland, are intermediate between 

 the two forms. 



Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, Vol. II , p. 27 (1877). 



