169



Stray Notes.



of five weeks they forsook the uest. In June the old birds laid again, but

whether the cock assisted the hen in incubation I cannot say for certain,

having but little opportunity of watching their doings, but I am tinder the

impression he did.”



Little is known regarding the nesting habits of the Varied Lorikeet,

so that the following note which we extract from the January number of our

esteemed contemporary th & Emu will be read with interest:—


“ It may interest ornithologists to hear thatl saw two broods, three and

four respectively, that were taken from their nests—hollow spouts in trees, I

understand—about the 15th September ; they had been in hand a week

when I saw them, and the oldest lot would, I should think, just be able to

fly a short distance had they had their liberty. They appeared to differ but

little in their plumage from adult birds, excepting that the red crown was

entirely wanting ; three individuals, though, showed the first indications of

it by a narrow baud of red across the forehead. They were thriving on a

mixture of oatmeal and honey. These birds were obtained on Cambridge

Creek, some 30 miles north of Richmond township, Flinders River, North

Queensland.—Fred. L. Berney, Richmond (N. Q.)”



Another writer in the last-mentioned journal gives the following note

•on the Painted Finch {Emblema picta ) :—


“I caught a number of Painted Finches in the M’Donnell Ranges by

snaring them with a single horsehair, but for some unaccountable reason

they all died with the exception of one within 24 hours. I obtained all the

uative grass-seeds and had the ordinary shop-seeds as well, took every

possible care of the birds, but they died so rapidly that I gave them up in

despair. The single bird I brought down to Adelaide, and it is thriving in

the open-air aviary. There was a nest not ten yards from my fireplace when

I left the camp. The eggs are white, and the nest, the coarsest of any Finch

I know, one peculiarity of it being that a number of pellets of clay are used

in the foundation. I watched the nest built from the first stick. Small

sticks were used more than grass, and the nest is much smaller than

that of any of our ordinary Finches. Horace J. Page, Mitcham (S. A.),

15/10/03.”



