INSESSORES. 157 



Sp. 81. PARDALOTUS PUNCTATUS, Temm. 



Spotted Diamond-bird. 



Pardalotus punctatus, Temm. Man., tom. i. p. Ixv. 

 Pipra punctata, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. Ivi. no. 1. 

 Speckled Manikin, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., voL ii. p. 253. 

 fre-dup-w'^-dup, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Aus- 

 tralia. 

 Diamond Bird, Colonists ot New South Wales. 



Pardalotus punctatus, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. ii. pl. 35. 



No species of the genus Pardalotus is more widely and 

 generally distributed than the Spotted Diamond-bird ; for it 

 inhabits the whole of the southern parts of the Australian 

 continent from the western to the eastern extremities of the 

 country, and is very common in Tasmania. It is incessantly 

 engaged in searching for insects among the foliage, both of 

 trees of the highest growth and of the lowest shrubs ; it fre- 

 quents gardens and enclosures as well as the open forest ; 

 and is exceedingly active in its actions, clinging and moving 

 about in every variety of position both above and beneath 

 the leaves with equal facility. 



With regard to the nidification of this species, it is a sin- 

 gular circumstance that, in the choice of situation for the 

 reception of its nest, it differs from every other known member 

 of the genus ; for while they always nidify in the holes of 

 trees, this species descends to the ground, and availing itself 

 of any little shelving bank, excavates a hole just large 

 enough to admit of the passage of its body, in a nearly 

 horizontal direction to the depth of two or three feet, at the 

 end of which a chamber is formed in which the nest is depo- 

 sited. The nest itself is a neat and beautifully built structure, 

 formed of strips of the inner bark of the Eucalypti, and lined 

 with finer strips of the same or similar materials ; it is of a 

 spherical contour, about four inches in diameter, with a small 

 hole in the side for an entrance. The chamber is generally 



