Il6 Chandler, Notes on Pardalotes. [ 



Emu 

 ist Oct. 



appear to live on the scale-insects that infest eucalypt leaves, and 

 on a still, calm day, if feeding in sapling growth, the " tap, tap " 

 of their bills on the leaves can be plainly heard. In July numbers 

 of solitary birds were seen. They were flying in a lost manner, 

 and occasionally settled on a dead limb of a high tree and emitted 

 the " trill " note. This note is often heard while the bird is on 

 the wing. About the end of July the birds are frequently seen 

 in pairs, but it is well towards the end of October before they 

 commence serious building preparations. At times I have noticed 

 three birds in company — the third, apparently, the vanquished 

 male. The wing-beats of this bird are rapid. At irregular intervals 

 it describes a short quadrant in its flight ; sometimes this quadrant 

 is a little more extended on a downward grade. This character- 

 istic flight, together with certain notes that are uttered, render the 

 species easily recognizable on the wing. Both sexes attend to the 

 wants of the young ones. The nest may be placed in a tree-hollow 

 or in a tunnel in the ground. Before the site for the nest has been 

 chosen, and whfle building operations are in progress, both sexes 

 are very noisy, and thus help to betray the whereabouts of their 

 nesting-tunnel. Both sexes assist in the work of excavation, but 

 I have only seen one bird (presumably the female) carrying in 

 rootlets for the nest. On one occasion the two birds were seen to 

 enter the tunnel — one with nesting material, the other without. 

 They remained out of sight several minutes. I have no doubt 

 that both sexes assist in collecting the material and building the 

 nest. At one place, where I saw a pair of birds about a bank, 

 I made a few excavations with a stick, and on a subsequent visit 

 found that one of my clumsily made tunnels had been neatly 

 extended. My friend, Mr. F. E. Wilson, saw a bird on one occasion 

 building its nest in a hollow log lying on the ground. The 

 favoured situation is in a perpendicular sandy bank. Where a 

 road has been cut through a sandy ridge, and the Pardalotes are 

 noisy during the breeding season, one is certain to find the 

 nesting-tunnel. They prefer a place where the sand has been 

 freshly disturbed, for only on rare occasions have I noticed a nest 

 in an old, discoloured bank. There are several of these cuttings 

 around Frankston where this species breeds every year. In one 

 small bank four or five pairs of birds had their nests. The burrows 

 had been tunnelled with a slight upward tendency, and the nesis 

 were found about 15 to 18 inches from the opening ; the latter 

 would be about i| to if inches in diameter. Nests built in trees 

 are, in the majority of cases, placed in the bole, though sometimes 

 a convenient spout is made use of. How the birds manage to 

 enlarge a chamber in semi-decayed wood is a mystery. In some 

 instances they do not succeed too wefl, hence a nest formed in a 

 tree is often smaller and not so symmetrical as one built in a 

 bank. The average height of the nest from the ground appears 

 to be from 12 to 15 feet. 



A typical skin of P. assimilis has the third primary only edged 

 with white, but specimens are obtained occasionally with the 



