152 PI.ATVCKltClN.F.. 



I'r. \\'. A. Ant;o\e sent me the following; note from Tea-tree C'lullx', near Adelaide, South 

 AustraHa: — " Twenty years ago P5<'/'/(i'///s lueiiiaioiiotiis was plentiful here, then became almost 

 extinct, but the last few years it has been much more common. It is found on the plains near 

 Adelaide, through the hills and all across the flats to the Murray l<i\er, where it is a very 

 common bird and is often associated with Picplivtus niulticoh>i\ P. luciiiatonctin in full nesting 

 plumage is a very handsome bird on the wing ; its nesting time is October and November, and 

 the ordinary clutch is live or six. It nests in the hollows of the Mallee Gums." 



From lilackwood. South Australia, Mr. ICdwin .Ashby writes me: — " Psi-photiis lurmiiionoln^ 

 was exceedingly common in the .\delaide hills in iS.Sd, in fact I saw large flocks within five 

 miles of the city. In or about iSrSS this species was attacked by a disease which prevented 

 the new feathers growing again after the moult. I saw numbers running about in the 

 grass like mice, and quite bare of feathers. The result was that for many years these birds were 

 seldom seen for a distance of fifty or sixty miles around .Vdelaide. I am glad to say that in 



1908, twenty years later, although not in a tenth of their numbers, one occasionally saw small 

 flocks in the neighbourhood of the metropolis." 



For the purposes of breeding it resorts to a hole in the limb or trunk of a tree, and usually 

 lays six eggs on the decaying wood, found therein, or bitten olf by the birds. 



The eggs \ ary from rounded-oval to an ellipse in form, pure white when first laid, but soon 

 becoming stained with the decaying wood, the shell being close-grainijd, dull and lustreless, some 

 occasionally having a slight gloss. A set of five taken by Mr. F. H. Lane, m October, 1892, 

 on Wambangalang Station, near Dubbo, New South Wales, measures; — Length (A) 0-95 x 

 07S inches ; (P>) 0-94 x 0-76 inches; (C) 0-9 x 0-77 inches; (0)0-92 x 07Sinches; (F) 0-94 

 X o 7(1 inches. \ set of five taken on the 12th October, 1901, at St. Arnaud, \'ict'3ria, by Mr. 

 Charles J. Gabriel, measures : — Length (A) 0-87 x 077 inches; (B) 0-87 x 077 inches; (C) 

 0-87 X 078 inches; (0)0-83 ^ 0-73 inches ; (E) 0-87 x 0-76 inches. .\ set of seven eggs was 

 taken from the same tree ten days l)efore. .'\ set of six taken on the 2nd October, 1908, by Mr. 

 Thos. P. .Vustin, on Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, measures: — Length (A) 

 0-9 X 0-75 inches; (1!) 0-91 x 0-74 mches ; (C) o-g x 0-76 inches; (0)0-89 ^ o'75 inches; 

 (F) 0-92 X 0-75 inches; (F) 0-93 x 0-75 inches. 



Young males resemble the adult female, but may be distinguished by the yellowish wash 

 to the outer median wing-coverts, the pale bluish forehead, bluish-green cheeks, pale green 

 foreneck, the yellowish patch in the centre of the breast, the dull red tips to the feathers of the 

 rump, and the white spot near the base of the inner webs of the (juills, forming a band through 

 the wing when extended. Wing 5-1 inches. 



.\lthough nesting operations may begin in New South Wales in August, eggs are not usually 

 laid until September, and are more common in (Jctober. On the Namoi River I saw little more 

 than half fledged birds taken from nesting-places on the gth November, 1896. Recently hatched 

 young birds taken from a hollow limb of a tree on Cobborah Station, on the 14th October, 



1909, were covered with greyish-white down ; legs and feet dark flesh colour with a greyish 

 wash ; bill yellow. 



