PSKPHOrus. 



149 



For the purposes of breedm., ,t usually resorts to a hole ,n a tree, which, as Dr. W 

 Mac..nl u-ray has pointed out, may be e.^^ht, or anything between that and ei^dUy feet from the 

 ground but at Mount Gunson, in South Australia, Dr. .\. M. Morgan, on the 29th luiy igoo 

 took a fresh egg from a hole in a sandbank, and shot the female at the nesting place 'in the 

 same bank were holes n,ade by Cl.nn.^r.a la.osUnuuu and a species of Kmgtisher, probably 



The eggs are from four to six in .mmber for a sittmg, and typically are almost globular in form 

 but occasionally swollen ellipses are found, pure white, the shell be.ng close-grained, some sets 

 bemg dull and lustreless, others having a slight gloss. A set of six taken by Dr. W. Mac-illivray 

 on the loth October, 1.03, at Gardiner's Creek, thirty n.iles nortii-west of broken H.lC South- 

 western New South Wales, measures :-Length (A) o-«6 x 076 inches; (13)0-86 x 073 inches- 

 (0)0-^4 X 075 inches: (D) 0-82 x 074 mches; (E) 0-92 x 072 inches; (F) o-86 x 07^ 

 mches. Another set of s,x taken by Dr. Macg.lHvray on the 20th September, 1908 at Cox's 

 Flat, Langawirra Station, sixty-hve miles north from Broken Hill, measures :-Len..th (A) 0-84 

 X 073 inches; (B) o-86 x 073 inches ; (C) 0-85 x 071 inches; (D)o-83 x 071 mches- (E) 

 0-87 X 0.72 mches; (F) 0-89 x 0-71 inches. 



In South-eastern Australia eggs may be usually found from the end of July to the middle 

 of October, the breeding season continuing until the end of November or early in December. 



Psephotus heematonotus. 



RED-RUilPED PAREAKEET. 

 Flalijcerciis lid-matonotux, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 151. 

 Psephotns h.naalonofus, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. V., pi. :36 (1848) ; id., Handbk. Bds Austr 



Vol. II., p. 69 (186.5) : Salvad., Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XX., p. 567 (1891) ; Sharpe' 



Hand-1. Bds., Vol. II., p. 39 (1900) ; Salvad., Ibis, 1907, p. 314. 



Adult m.^lk.— ^«ci- and scapulars dull gr.',n wnslvd n-Uh bin.- .■ rump rrd : upper lail-corn-ts 

 yellotcish-green; upper wing-coverts and outer webs of in.ner secondaries bluish-, /reeu, th. outer median 

 series greenish-yeUow : shoufder, primary coverts and outer webs 0/ the primaries d-ep blue, the latter 

 with a greyish wash ou thrir apical portion ; outer webs of onf.r secondaries blue with whitish margins. ■ 

 inyier webs of all the quills blackish : central pair of tail-feathers bluish near the shafts and toivards 

 the tips, which are black : the remainder greenish at their bases, pale bine in the centre and largely 

 tipped with white, the basal portion of th^ir inner w,bs margined, with dark blue, the white decreasing 

 towards the outermost feather on either side, o,nd the pale blue increasing, some specimens having these 

 feathers eutirebj blue, in others narrowly edged on the outer web and tipped with white : head light 

 emerald-green, the forehead and cheeks with a pronounced bluish wash: foreneck and upper breast 

 yellowish-green; lower breast and abdomen yellow, greeaish at the sides, some of the feathers Imving 

 blue tips; the thighs washed with pale bluish-green- under tail-coverts dull white : under wing-coverts 

 deep bluej bill bluish-horn colour : /^^, and feet greyish; iris light brown Total length in the 

 Hesh lis inches, iving '>■.;, tail (;, bill 0-62, tarsus 0:'>5. 



Adult vv.M.K\.v..-Duller in plumage than the male, the head and upper parts grey washed tvith 

 pale greenish-olive ; rump and upper tail-coverts green: upper wing-coverts and inner secondaries 

 like the back, tJie outer series of the lesser median-coverts washed with blue : cheeks, foreneck and upper 

 breast olive-grey ; the lower breast dull yellow, centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts dull 

 trhite, the latter washed with blue. 



Distribution 

 38 



.—Southern Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia. 



