84 Hall J Vayialion in Trichoglosstis. F ^^j 



Emu 

 Oct. 



b. Certain of the fully adult specimens show the sides to 



be red also ; a vestige of yellow upon one. 



c. Ten specimens show uniform red breasts, with a very 



small proportion of yellow upon the sides of the neck. 



d. As the bird matures the breast red becomes separated 



from the abdominal blue by a clearly defined horizontal 

 line. Only 7 per cent, of the specimens show this stage 

 of development. 

 t'. The depth of colour on the occiput varies considerably 

 between a light violet or violet-brown to a deep violet 

 and blue. This appears as much in the adult as in the 

 young birds. 



f. The abdominal blue in 20 skins is dull, mostly lustreless. 



In 20 others it is full of lustre. No dates are upon the 

 skins to indicate the time of year in relation to moult 

 or nesting. In many more the transitional phases are 

 showing. 



g. Wing measurements in adults show 6.2 to 6.8 inches, 



mostly 6.5. 

 I think, with Mr. Robinson, that there is a sub-species, and 

 that it is confined to the extreme north of Queensland. About 

 the Richmond River we get the species. I think the sub-species 

 is nomadic in Northern Queensland, while the species is 

 migratory between Southern Queensland and Tasmania. 



Birds Seen at Cumminin Station, Western Australia. 



Bv Alan Fairfax Grossman, F.L.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



Cumminin is situate about 90 miles east from Beverley and 

 200 miles due east from Perth. It is, roughly speaking, about 

 half-way between the two rabbit-proof fences, and is some 30 

 miles south of Merreden, on the Eastern Goldfields railway. 

 The country is very undulating, the hills being chiefly timbered 

 with jam-wood [Acada acummatd) and York gum, while the 

 valleys grow forests of salmon-barked gum, gimlet gum, and 

 morell, interspersed with tea-tree and occasional patches of 

 yate (eucalypt). Through part of the country runs what is 

 called the Salt River — a river only in name. Though 

 occasionally in very wet winters it does run, it consists really of 

 a chain of lakes of varying sizes, some of which have often a 

 considerable amount of water in wet seasons, and are the haunts 

 of innumerable Ducks. Throughout the district the good land 

 is surrounded by vast sand-plains, some of which are useful for 

 feeding stock, while others are covered with practically impene- 

 trable scrub, and are the haunts of kangaroo, Emu, Mallee- 

 Fowl, and other game. Out of the jam-wood country one 

 finds huge granite rocks outcropping, and it is under these that 



