NKOI'llKMA. 159 



From Adelaide, South Australia, Dr. A. M. Mori,'aii wrote nie : — " I have met \v\th Ncopluiiui 

 dcgniis from the l-'inniss Ri\'er in the south to \'ultacowie in the north, and also about thirty miles 

 west of Port Auj^'usta. In the latter situation they appeared to be migrating westward. I found 

 them breeding in a ( uim creek at \'altacowie on the i ith August, lyoo ; the two clutches which I 

 took each consisted of five eggs, whicli had begun to incubate. Witli one set an egg of 

 .Jif^otltclcs iwvie-]ioUaiidi(c was found; it was sterile, as also were those of the Eupluma. The latter 

 nest was about twenty feet from the ground, and the eggs two feet from the entrance. The young 

 male and female birds I shot at the Finniss River on the 27th November, iSi)6, had the fourth, 

 fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth primaries largely spotted with white, and there was barely a 

 suggestion of the orange colour on the abdomen." 



;\Ir. Tom Carter writes me from IJroome Hill, South-western .Australia: — "Only one 

 specimen of Ncophaiia (la^aiis was obtained at l^oint Cloates, which was picked up dead on the 

 31st March, igoo, and was in immature plumage. They are fairly common in the vicinity of 

 Broome Hill." 



The eggs are fi\'e in number for a sitting, almost ijlobular in form, white, except where 

 stained with the decaying wood, the shell being close-grained, dull and lustreless. A set of four 

 in Mr. Chas. French, Junr.'s, collection, taken by Mr. \V. White in South Australia, in August, 

 1895, measures : — Length (.A) o'8 x 072 inches ; (B)o-82 x o'68 inches; (C)o'78 x o'67inches; 

 (D) 0-78 X 0-67 inches. A set tak'en by Dr. A. M. Morgan, at Yultacowie Creek, one hundred 

 and twenty miles from Port Augusta, South Australia, and which also contained an egg of 

 .iigotheles mnhe-lwllaiidioe, measure as follows: — Length (A) 0-83 x 0-71 inches; (B)o-83 x 0-71 

 inches; (C) 0'83 x 0-71 inches (D) 0-82 x 0-72 inches; (E) 0-87 x 0-72 inches. 



Young birds are like the adult female, but are slightly greener on the head and under 

 parts, and with only a faint indication of the indigo band on the forehead, and the lores but 

 slightly tinged with yellow. Wing 4-2 inches. 



In South Australia Dr. A. M. Morgan took incubated eggs on the nth August. In Western 

 Australia Gould records that Gilbert informed him "the breeding season is in September and 

 October; the eggs being from four to seven in number." 



Neophema chrysogastra. 



OR.-VNItE-BELLIED UKASS-PARRAKEET. 



Psittacns c/irygiic/as/er, Lath., Ind. Orn., Vol. L, p. !)? (1790). 



Euphema aurantin, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.Vol. V., pi. .39 (1848) ; id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. 

 II., p. 75 (186.5). 



Xeopliema chri/riogaatni, Salvad., Oat. lids. Brit. Mas., Vol. XX., p. ")73 (1891) ; Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., 

 Vol. II., p. 39 (1900). 



Adult male. — General colour abocc, inchuliiKj ih>: upper part vf the head and sides of the neck 

 (jrass-green ; most uf the upper zviriff-coverts, (is icll as the inner secondaries like the hack ; remainder 

 of the quills black on their inner irehs, dark blue 011 their outer irebs, the outer primaries externally 

 edged ivith yellow .■ t/ie outer median and (/renter iring-corerts and primary-coverts deep blue : central 

 pair of tail-feathers green, bbiish towards the tips, tlie next on either side greenish-blue on the outer 

 web, blackis/t-brown on the inner and tipped tvitli, yellow, the remainder similar but more largely 

 tipped with yelloa; wliicli increases in extent towards the outermost feather on either side ; across the 

 forehead a blue band margined with a itarroiver line of pale greenish-blue; lores yellowish-green; 

 throat, chest and flanks grass-green, passing into yreenish-yellow on the abdomen, ivhich has a rich 



