THE



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BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. VI. —NO. 68. All rights reserved. JUNE, 1900.


THE SPOTTED PANTHER-BIRD.


Pcirdalotus punctatus.


By A. G. Butrer, Ph.D., etc.


It will be remembered that last year our member, Mr.

Norman B. Roberts, wrote to ask whether this species had

been imported and kept in confinement in this country, and 1

replied that Mr. Abrahams had imported it in 1882, had sent a

pair to Dr. Russ, but unhappily the birds were dead when they

reached him.


With his letter Mr. Roberts forwarded such a characteristic

coloured illustration that it seemed a pity not to reproduce it

in the Magazine, and, after a consultation of our Executive

Committee, it was decided that it should form one of the plates

for this year’s volume.


The Pardalotes or Panther-birds are small showily coloured

active little creatures having very Tit-like habits : they build

covered nests in holes, either in trees or banks, lay white eggs,

and feed upon seeds, buds and insedls : there should therefore

not be the least difficulty in keeping these birds in health either

in cage or aviary.


Gould says of the Spotted Panther-bird—“ No species of

the genus Pcirdalotus is more widely and generally distributed

than the Spotted Diamond-bird ; for it inhabits the whole of the

southern parts of the Australian continent from the western to

the eastern extremities of the country, and is ver}^ common in

Tasmania. It is incessantly engaged in searching for insects

among the foliage, both of trees of the highest growth and of

the lowest shrubs ; it frequents gardens and enclosures as well

as the open forest ; and is exceedingly adtive in its actions,

clinging and moving about in every variety of position both

above and beneath the leaves with equal facility.


With regard to the nidification of this species, it is a

singular circumstances that, in the choice of situation for the



