1M4 I'LATYCr.RCIN.E. 



dark lihii' at liir liasi . pnl^ iil/ie mi fhrir n/iic(il half ; all thr iiwler snr/aw mid midrr todl-coverfs 

 verdiler-ijri'eii, //in cfiitn' of llif linnst rrosr-ed iritli a mare or ling /lerfect limud oraiii/f-yelloiv bain/ : 

 hill ir/ii/ig/idiorn ruining //<•' Univr iimiidiljle bliiis/idmrii, colmn' ; h'r/a mid. Jfet i/rfi/is/ili/iir/i: ; irin 

 bliir/iis/iljroirn. Total hiiyl/i in l/n- jlrs/i i.J iiii-lii-n, iriiiij li''>, tnil I'-'i, bill (I'S, tiir.tiia (I 7 1'l . 



Adult kkmale. — Snnilb r mid i/iiller in plumni/r tlimi, l/ie iiiab', t/ir bac/c ijri-fiitis/i and t/in blue 

 mori' ext' in/rd uf'r f/if cliei'/in "'"','/ '' inc/ifs. 



Distribiitiiiii — Southern (jueensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria. South Australia. 



£[)ARNARD'S I'arrakeet, or " Buln Buin " as it is more frequently called in New South 

 -J Wales, is widely distributed throughout the southern portions of (Queensland, Central and 

 Western New South Wales, Western \'ictoria, and the eastern portions of South Australia, 

 Mr. Kdwin .\sbby obtaining it as far south as Saddleworth, seventy miles to the north of 

 .Adelaide, Afr. (jeorge Masters procured specimens at the Flinders Range, and Dr. A. M. Morgan 

 noted it common at Port Augusta. In New South Wales I met with it on the Mehi and Gwydir 

 Rivers in November, 1S97, breeding in trees along the river banks, and in Coolibah trees 

 dotted over the plains. One pair had taken up their quarters in a Coolibah tree, just outside 

 the garden of Mr. C. J. McMaster's residence, " Wilga," about three miles from Moree, the 

 nesting-place being in a hollow in the tnmk of the tree, and about twenty feet from the ground. 

 In October, 1905, in company with the late Mr. J. A. Thorpe, we found this species unusually 

 plentiful on the Castlereagh River, about sixteen miles to the north of Coonamble. Although 

 they were usually met with in pairs, small flocks of four or live individuals were not uncommon, 

 either feeding on the various seeds of grasses or herbaceous plants, or on the recently stacked 

 wheat sheaves in the cultivation paddocks, and many specimens were obtained. Calopsittacns 

 nnvie-lwllaihUic and Pscpliotiis Juematorr/wits and the present species were all equally common, as 

 they generally are, throughout the Central and Western Districts of New South Wales. 



In a large series of specimens there is not much individual variation, except in the yellow 

 collar around the hind-neck ; in some examples it is entirely broken in the centre by verditer- 

 green feathers, and in females especially it is often as much orange in the centre as yellow. 

 The band across the centre of the breast may be yellow or intermingled orange and yellow, and 

 either a well defined band or only a central patch. 



For an opportunity of examining an instance of xanthochroism in a living example of 

 Barnard's Parrakeet, I was indebted to Mr. H. B. Bradley, a Trusteee of the Australian 

 Museum. This bird, which I saw at Mr. Bradley's office on the i6th April, 1904, was, he 

 informed me, the property of Mr. A. L. \'ivers, of North Sydney. It was remarkably tame, 

 and had the entire plumage creamy-yellow, except a dark scarlet band on the forehead 

 and some scarlet feathers behind the eye and on the nape ; primaries and under surface of wing 

 white; tail yellowish-white. Mr. Vivers subse(]uently informed me it was one of three taken by 

 a shearer in September, 1901, from a nesting-place in atree on I-Jurrawong Station, near Forbes, 

 New South Wales ; the other young ones were in the normal plumage. 



These birds live well in confinement, and soon learn to whistle and distinctly articulate 

 short sentences. 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett, of Yandembah Station, wrote me : — " Plalyicnia havnardi is 

 somewhat widely distributed through the timbered back country and the belts of timber bordering 

 the rivers, but cannot be termed numerous, and is very rarely met with in the clumps of timber 

 dotted over the plains. It breeds during the months of September and October, and lays four 

 or five eggs, which are deposited in the hollow trunks or branches of Eucalyptus trees." 



Mr. Robert Grant has given me the following note : — " I found the ' Buln Buln ' Parrakeet 

 (Plnlyci-riiis hannirdi ) numerous on the Macquarie, Bogan and Castlereagh Rivers, New South 

 Wales. While collecting on Byrock Station in October, 16^6, large numbers of these birds used 



