160 PLATYCERCIN.E. 



oraiigp patch in iJifi CMilri' : tiiidi'V lail-i'uvrts ydloir , iniih'r fvimj-cnri'rts and eihji' of tin- iriii(/ rlrrp 

 hlne : iipprr main/ihli' lihirkis/i , tin Imivr one Jii'ah rulonr, i/rn/is/i in lli" cfiifre. : h'ljfi and fiit reddish 

 flf.v/i co/iiitr : iris lujlit lui'-el. Total hiigth S ■.'■'> iiichrs, nnuy 4"-'''. '"'' i'l^ ^'''' O'^'i..', tiirxiis O.'ti. 

 Adult FEMALK. Stini/or to hnt sNi/litli/ dnJIfr in jitnniaiji- tliaii the hiaJi . 



Distribution. — New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Austraha, Tasmania. 



(^!K LTHOL'GH the Oranf;e-lielHed Grass- Pat rakeet is fairly plentiful in Tasmania durinf; some 

 jj \_ seasons, and which may be rej^arded as the stron,i,'hold of the species, it is exceedinf^ly 

 rare in New South Wales, the northern limit of its range. The late Air. f. .X. Thorpe obtained 

 a male and female at Middle Mead, Sydney Harbour, where he found them breeding in a low 

 hollow stump, also a specimen at l^ong Bay. and where in the latter locality Mr. George INIasters, 

 Curator of the Macleay INIuseum, at the LTniversity of Sydney, also procured an adult male and 

 female. These are the only specimens I know to have been procured in New South Wales, 

 and it is remarkable that all the birds were shot within a few miles of Sydney. It is certainly 

 nomadic in habits, for in South Australia, as will be seen by Mr. F.dwin Ashby's note, an irruption 

 of these birds occurred near Adelaide in November, i8S6, and he has not observed it since. 

 Gould, in referring to this species, remarks :* — " I observed it sparingly dispersed in the 

 neighbourhood of Hobart Town and New Norfolk, but found it in far greater abundance on the 

 Acta:on Islands, at the entrance to D'Entrecasteaux Channel. . . . On visiting South 

 Australia in winter, I then found it e(]ually abundant on the flat, mariShy grounds bordering the 

 coast, especially between the Port of Adelaide and Holdfast Bay." As will be seen, too, by Mr. 

 Malcolm Harrison's notes made in Tasmania, it is very abundant in some seasons, and is then 

 again almost entirely absent for years. In the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,"! 

 Count Salvadori enumerates a specimen in the Gould Collection from Melbourne. 



In March, 191 1, Mr. W. J. Banks brought me for examination a living bird of this species 

 he had in confinement for the preceding four years. It was remarkably quiet, while we were 

 handling it, submitting to my taking the measurements and colours of it, and my extending the 

 wings without uttering a sound or attempting to bite or struggle. It was without exception the 

 quietest bird I had ever handled. 



Mr. Percy Peir writes me under date 5th October, 1909, from Marrickville, Sydney ; — 

 " Some twenty odd years ago the Orange-bellied Grass-Parrakeets ( Ncophcma chrysof^astra) were 

 numerous about Penshurst and Blaclctown, where they alforded some shooting for the sportsmen 

 of the day. They were often to be found in the possession of bird-keepers, but are practically 

 unknown now. During 1907 a beautiful specimen appealed at a Sydney Show, and I was 

 informed by the owner that it was captured at Riverstone, and shortly alter this I recei\ed a 

 female from the same locality. It is very similar in nature to the Bourke Grass-Parrakeet, 

 being very timid and nervous in any one's presence, and on the introduction of the hand into the 

 cage it would lie flat on the floor and endeavour to hide its head. I'nfortunately it escaped 

 from captivity." 



From Blackwood, South Australia, Mr. Edwin Ashby sends me the following note : — 

 "Ncophcma chysogastra was very numerous in the native Pine trees at the Grange, near Port 

 Adelaide, in November, 1886. The boys from the Port were shooting them with every sort of 

 firearm. I only collected two specimens, and have never seen the bird alive since." 



Dr. L. Ilolden sent the following notes from Circular Head, on the north-west coast of 

 Tasmania, when presenting a skin of this species to the Trustees of the .Australian Museum : — 

 " On the 24th May, 1887, I fired into a flock of Orange-bellied Grass-Parrakeets {liiiplicnia 

 chrysogastra) at Long Beach, Circular Head, killing three birds. None of them had the orange 

 spot on the centre of the abdomen so well developed as a specimen procured on Circular Head 



• Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 75 (1865). f Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol, XX„ p. 574 (1891). 



