148 PLATYCERCIN^.. 



season ; the parent birds and their youn^' broods. They pair oft early and commence nestinj::; 

 operations in July, continuin'4 throughout tlie three following months in a late season. I have 

 taken eggs in November, the chief breeding months are, however, September and October. A 

 small hollow is usually chosen in one of the Eucalypts which border our creeks, and the eggs 

 laid on the bare wood or earthy matter natural to the hollow, at a distance of one to two feet from 

 the entrance. The height from the ground varies from eight to eighty feet in actual measurements. 

 The eggs are usually six in number, though one sometimes finds four or five. The female alone 

 performs the task of incubation, and sits very closely when she has small young or the eggs are on 

 the point of hatching, and I ha\e known several instances when she could have been captured on 

 the nest. They feed on the ground on the seeds of grasses and various other plants, and when 

 disturbed fly up into the Cjums, where the protective colouring of the female renders it very 

 difficult to detect tier. The male, howe\er, with his brilliant green and scarlet livery, is a much 

 more conspicuous object." 



Relative to a trip undertaken by Dr. W. AIacgilli\ ray and Mr. W. McLennan, in September, 

 igog, to the north of Brok'en Hill, the former writes : — " Pscpliotus inulticolov were breeding much 

 more freely in the spring of igotj, especially in the Box trees growing in the scrub country, herbage 

 being more plentiful than it had been for the previous four years, and seeding freely in great 

 variety. Clutches of young \aried from four to six, but in one instance a hollow contained 

 seven. Incubation with this Parrakeet connnences with the first egg laid. I opened the crop 

 of one young one that Mr. McLennan accidentally dropped when examining a nestful, and 

 found it very full of fine seeds, as fine as gunpowder, and could only wonder at the industry of 

 the parent birds who could find and collect such seeds and fill the crops of seven young birds by 

 8 o'clock in the morning." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland, of Melbourne, has kindly supplied the following notes : — " Pscpkotiis 

 midticoloy has a very wide range, being found w-herever Mallee, Mulga or Saltbush is met with. 

 These birds seem to remain in pairs throughout the year, as the only occasions on which I saw 

 five or six together was when the old pair were accompanied by their brood. They are most 

 affectionate in disposition, and on several occasions on which I have shot one of a pair tlie other 

 has flown down to its dead mate and, although disturbed, returned two or three times to try and 

 entice it away. They live well in confinement, and become very tame." 



Dr. A. i\f. Morgan wrote me: — " I found Pscplictiis multicolor a common bird in scrubs and 

 Gum creeks during a trip made from Port Augusta to the Mount Gunson District, South 

 Australia, in ]uly and .\ugust, igoo. One egg was taken on the 2;jth July at Mount Gunson, 

 from a hole in a sand-bank, the female being shot at the nesting-place. In the same bank were 

 holes made by Cheraimvca ?\.nd Halcyon, sps. Another nest was talcen on the irth August at 

 Elizabeth Creek, in a hollow of a Gum tree, containing three fresh eggs. This nest contained 

 one egg on the 7th August." 



From Blackwood, South Australia, Mr. Edwm Ashby writes me: — " Pscplictiis iiiulticolor \s 

 not found near Adelaide, but is very cominon in the north at Xackara, also at Mannum, South 

 Australia. It was numerous in Western Australia, to the north and west of Coolgardie." 



Mr. W' . White, of the Reedbeds, South Australia, sent me a set of five eggs of this species, 

 together with the following note: — " Pscpliotns miilticolov, set of five, taken on Yorke Peninsula, 

 South Australia, from a hole in a Mallee Gum, near Port \'ictoria, on the 30th August, iSgj. 

 The parent bird stayed on the nest while the hole was enlarged with an axe ; then it would not 

 leave until it was lifted off the eggs. This was the case in every instance." 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter writes me: — "The only 

 locality where Pseplwtus iiinlticoloy came under my observation was on the Gascoyne River, in 

 1887, when a dry season was prevailing. These birds used to drink at sheep's troughs in 

 considerable numbers." 



