UAliN'AKlJlUS. 



139 



soutliern portion of Western Australia. Durinj^ the wanderings of the tlorn Scientific Expedition 

 in Central Australia, I shot many of all ages. Some were very highly coloured, whilst others 

 were eiiualiy dull ni plumage. Age or se.x seemed to have no influence in this respect, as one 

 of the brightest birds I secured was a nestling with its yellow bill. Adult males and females 

 were also bright, but others of all ages and sexes were equally sombre. An old female a friend 

 brouj;ht from Western Australia died recently, after ten years conhnement in a cage. Instead 

 of the beautiful sulphur band across its breast it had ten green spots dispersed through the 

 yellow feathers. In a wild state they live on seeds and green food. The stomachs of some I 

 shot were full of all manner of leaves and pulp." 



Mr. C. G. Gibson writes me: — "At Mount Ida, in the East Murchison District, Western 

 Australia, on the 23rd .August, igob, I took four considerably incubated eggs of i?(;;'«(m//«s ^CJ/rtn^s 

 from a hollow in a White Gum. In September and (_)ctober I found nesting places in hollows 

 in White Gums along the sides of dry creeks containing young birds." 



The eggs, four or live in number for a sitting, are deposited in a iiole of a tree, usually a 

 Gum tree; they are rounded oval in form, pure white, the shell being close-grained, dull and 

 lustreless. A set of four partially incubated eggs taken by Mr. C. Ernest Cowle, at Illamurta, 

 Central Australia, on the I'lth July, 1S95, measure as follows: — Length (A) 1-15 x 0-95 inches 

 (1j) 1-17 X 0-93 inches; (C) 1-13 x 0-93 inches; (D) i-i8 x 0-95 inches. A set of four 

 taken by Mr. C. G. Gibson on the 23rd August, 1896, at Mount Ida, in the East Murchison 

 District, Western .Vustralia, measure: — Length (.\) i-i2 x 0.96 inches ; (B) i'i4 x 0-98 inches; 

 (C) i'i5 X o'97 inches; (D) i'i4 x o'gO inches. 



In Central Australia the breeding season is influenced by the rains, generally it is as early as 

 March, Mr. Keartland noting a well Hedged bird on the 12th May, the above described set being 

 taken over three months later. .\t Mount Ida, in the East Murchison District, Western 

 Australia, Mr. Gibson took incubated eggs on the 23rd .\ugust, 1906, and found nesting places 

 contaming young in September and October. 



In North-western .Vustralia a closely allied species, the Western Banded I'arrakeet, 

 Bariinrdins oiiiihiitalis,'' is found, the types of which are in the Australian Museum Collection and 

 were procured in April, 1889, at Kurratha Station, thirty-six miles from Roeburne, by Mr. E. J. 

 Saunders. This species, which ranges as far south, according to Mr. T. Carter, as Point 

 Cloates, may be distinguished principally by its lighter green upper parts, yellowish-green feathers 

 of the foreneck and upper breast, and its conspicuous lemon-yellow lower breast and abdomen. 



Only one other species of this genus is known, Bainardins uidi'j^illivrayi,^ inhabiting the 

 neighbourhood of Cloncurry, north to Normanton, near the shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in 

 the Burke District of Northern Queensland, the type of which is in the Australian Museum. It is 

 allied to B. baynavdi, but has no red frontal band, the back and interscapular region in both sexes 

 are light green, the foreneck and upper breast yellowish-green, and the lower breast and abdomen 

 rich yellow. This species was discovered by the late Mr. .\lexander Sykes Macgillivray, after 

 whom it was named, at Leilavale Station, on the Fullarton River, about thirty miles east of 

 Cloncurry, and the skin was forwarded to me, as also have been many others, by his brother Dr. 

 W. Macgillivray of Broken Hill, New South Wales. Dr. P. L. Sclater made the following 

 remarks on this spscies in the Ibis, [ where it is beautifully figured: — "There can be no 



• North, Rec. Austr. Mus., Vol, 11 , p S3 (1S'J3). t North, Vict Nat., Vol. XVIL, p. 91 (1900.) 



I Sclater, Ibis, 1902, p. 010, pi. xv. 



