26 BIRDS or AUSTRALIA. 



which it mainly subsists ; occasionally it seeks its food on the 

 ground, when insects, fallen seeds, &c. are equally partaken 

 of; the larvae of moths and other insects are also extracted 

 by it from the trunks and limbs of such trees as are infested 

 by them. 



Its flight is heavy and apparently laboured : when on the 

 wing it frequently utters a note very similar to its aboriginal 

 name ; at other times when perched on the trees it emits a 

 harsh croaking sound, which is kept up all the time the bird 

 is feeding. 



It breeds in the holes of the highest white gum-trees, often 

 in the most dense and retired part of the forest. The eggs 

 are generally two in number, of a pure white ; their average 

 length being one inch and three-quarters by one inch and 

 three-eighths in breadth. The breeding-season extends over 

 the months of October, November, and December. 



I have never seen specimens from any other part of Aus- 

 tralia than the colony of Swan River, over the whole of which 

 it seems to be equally distributed. 



The entire plumage is blackish brown, glossed with green, 

 especially on the forehead ; all the feathers narrowly tipped 

 with dull white ; ear-coverts creamy white ; all but the two 

 central tail-feathers crossed by a broad band, equal to half 

 their length, of cream-white ; the external web of the outer 

 primary and the margin of the external web of the other 

 banded feathers blackish brown ; the shafts black ; irides 

 blackish brown ; bill lead-colour ; in some specimens the 

 upper mandible is blackish brown ; legs and feet dull yel- 

 lowish grey, tinged with olive. 



Genus MICROGLOSSUM, Geoffroy. 



The species of this genus are among the largest members 

 of the great family of Parrots ; they are also rendered con- 

 spicuously different from the whole of their congeners by their 



