160 



BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Sp. 83. PARDALOTUS QUADRAGINTUS, Gould. 



PORTY-SPOTTED DiAMOND-BIRD. 



Pardalotus quadra gintus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part v. p. 148. 

 Forty-spot of the Tasmanian Colonists. 



Pardalotus quadragintus, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. ii. 

 pi. 37. 



This species is, I believe, peculiar to Tasmania, where it 

 inhabits the almost impenetrable forests which cover that 

 island, particularly those of its southern portion. It is I 

 think less numerous than either of its congeners, the Parda- 

 lotus ajfnis and P. punctatus, and appears to confine itself 

 more exclusively to the highest gum-trees than those species. 

 I found it very abundant in the gulleys under Mount 

 Wellington, and observed it breeding in a hole in one of the 

 loftiest trees, at about forty feet from the ground ; I after- 

 wards took a perfectly developed white egg from the body of 

 a female killed on the 5th of October. The weight of this 

 little bird was rather more than a quarter of an ounce ; the 

 stomach was muscular, and contained the remains of the larvae 

 of lepidoptera, which with coleoptera and other insects con- 

 stitute its food. 



It has a simple piping kind of note of two syllables. 



In its actions it much resembles the Tits, creeping and 

 clinging among the branches in every direction. 



The eggs are white and nearly round in form, being seven 

 lines and a half long and six broad. 



The sexes are so much alike in colour, that a separate 

 description is unnecessary. 



Crown of the head and all the upper surface bright olive-green, 

 each feather obscurely margined with brown ; wings brownish 

 black, all the feathers, except the first and second primaries, 

 having a conspicuous spot of pure white near their extremities ; 

 tail blackish grey, the extreme tips of the feathers being white ; 

 cheeks and under tail-coverts yellowish olive j throat and under 



