IIAKN'AHDIUS. 



135 



to lre,uent a tank near the house, hiy the a,d of a sieve and see maize scattered beneath and 

 around ,t, and a string leadmg into an outhouse, where I had a good view of the birds, I secured 

 as many as hve or stx at a single pull. One morn.ng I trapped over th.rty birds, but kept only 

 about a dozen of the brightest plumaged birds, and let the others go." 



From Broken Hill, m South-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgillivray has kindly 

 sent ,„e the lollowmg notes :-" This part of Xew South Wales nu.st be considered one of the 

 strongholds ot h.nnauhus haruanU, as no commoner bird exists on all the creeks which traverse 

 .t. It ,s quite an easy matter for anyone to follow one of these creeks down leisurely and lind 

 thirty or more nests in a day. It is, however, one thing to hnd them and another to get at their 

 contents, as the eggs are often placed in the bole of the tree three or four feet from the entrance, 

 which would necessitate half an hour's use of a tomahawk, often in an awkward position, and 

 when easier ones are to be got such a labour ,s dispensed with. Nesting nearly always commences 

 during the last week in August and continues till October; when the season is a late one 

 nesting ,s often delayed a fortnight or so, and during a dry season which seriously limits the 

 food supply, very lew nest at all, and then only to rear small broods. The avera^^e hei-dn of 

 the nesting-hollow is twenty feet, and the average depth two and a half feet. The birds are 

 easily distuibed trom the nest, unless the eggs are on the point of hatching or there are small 

 young birds, when the old bird may often be caught on the nest. In 1907, when climbing to a 

 Little hagle-s nest, I grasped a hollow limb below the Eagle's nest to pull myself up, and got 

 rather a start when a Barnard Parrakeet flew out in my face : she proved to be sitting on e^c^s • 

 there were two fresh eggs in the Eagle's nest. I have also found this bird's nest in the slme 

 tree in which a Kestrel had its nest, and two nests with young in a tree in which a Wed^e- 

 tailed Eagle was sitting on fresh eggs. Five eggs form a clutch, and this number wiirbe 

 oundin eighty per cent, of tne nests examined; six are rarely laid, four being much more 

 frequent ; they are simply deposited on the bare wood or woody dust natural to the hollow 

 I hese birds never congregate in Hocks, but after the breeding season family parties may often 

 be seen along the creeks, either on the ground feeding on seeds of various grasses and herbs or 

 else eating the seeds of various stunted Acacias, which grow on the rocky hills of the Barrier 

 Range." 



For the purposes of breeding it resorts to a hole in a trunk or branch of a tree, depositing 

 its eggs on the decaying wood or dust usually found in these cavities. 



1 he eggs are usually five, sometimes only four, and rarely six in number for a sittin" 

 varying from oval to rounded-oval and an ellipse in form, pure white, the shell being close--rained' 

 dull and lustreless. Three sets taken by Ur. W. Macgillivray measure as follows :-A set of four 

 taken at \anco Glen, eighteen miles north-west of Broken Hill, on the nth October 1903 

 measure: -Length (A) rii x o-ss inches ; (B) i-i x o-88 inches; (C) roS x 0-9 inches' 

 (D) rob X o'S7 inches. A set of hve taken at Campbell's Creek on the 13th October, 1906' 

 measurer-Length (A) 1-13 x 0-93 inches; (B) ri6 x 0-95 inches ; (C) 1-15 x 0-93 inches; 

 (D) i-i,S X 0-94 inches ; (E) i-i6 x 0-95 inches. A set of four taken from a hollow in a Gum 

 tree ten feet from the ground, at Sleeps Well Creek, forty-hve miles north of Broken Hill on 

 the 23rd September, 190S, measure :--Length (A) 1-07 x o-88 inches; (B) 1-17 x 0-91 inches; 

 (C) 1-2 X 0-87 inches; (D) 1-15 x 0-93 inches. 



Young birds are duller in plumage, the red band on the forehead paler ; sides of the head 

 brown ; crown, nape and upper back brown slightly washed with green, the yellow collar on the 

 hind neck narrower, paler, and having green feathers intermingled in the centre; cheeks brown, 

 the tips of the feathers blue, under surface dull dingy yellow, all the feathers margined with' 

 green, the band across the centre of the breast being only slightly indicated with one or two 

 scattered yellow or orange-yellow feathers. 



