360 On the Eggs of three Australian Parrakeets. 



1. PoLYTELis MELANURA, Vigors ; iSalvacl. Cat. B. xx. 

 p. 480. 



The Black-tailed Parrakeet^ or " Rock Pebbler " as it is 

 locally designated, is widely dispersed throughout the inland 

 districts of South Australia and the southern portions of 

 Western Australia, its range extending eastward into North- 

 western Victoria and South-western New South Wales. 

 Being a showy and attractive species, it is in great request 

 as a cage-bird, and numbers of them are annually trapped 

 and sent to the capitals of the southern colonies, but more 

 especially to Adelaide. 



For an opportunity of examining the eggs of this, as well 

 as those of the following species, I am indebted to Mr. W. 

 White, who found this Parrakeet breeding during September 

 1863 in the holes of the large Eucalypti overhanging the 

 banks of the Murray River above the north-west bend near 

 Pudnooka in South Australia. The eggs are three or four 

 in number for a sitting; they are white, and vary in form 

 from a thick to elongate oval, the surface of the shell being 

 smooth, but very minutely pitted and lustreless. Average 

 specimens measure as follows : length (A) 1*2 by 1 inch, 

 (B) 1-33 by 1 inch. 



A pair of these birds obtained by Mr. White in the same 

 locality and placed in his aviary nested during October 1865 

 in the hollow limb of a tree, successfully rearing three 

 young ones from a clutch of four eggs. 



2. Neophema splendida (Gould) ; Salvad. Cat. B. xx. 

 p. 576. 



The Splendid Grass-Parrakeet is very sparingly distributed 

 in the interior of the inland districts of South Australia and 

 the south-eastern portions of Western Australia, and is still 

 one of the rarest species of this beautiful genus in our 

 ornithological collections. A nesting-place of this Parrakeet 

 containing four eggs was found by Mr. White near Pud- 

 nooka in the Murray scrub, the eggs being simply deposited 

 on the decaying wood in the hollow limb of a Eucalyptus 

 dumosa. The eggs are white and nearly round in form, the 



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