PARDALOTUS. 49 



" Like the Black-headed species (P. melanocephalus,) it digs 

 a small narrow burrow in the side of a bank or mound of earth, 

 the end of this it enlarges into a spherical chamber of about 

 four inches in diameter, which it lines all round but more thickly 

 at the bottom, with fine strips of stringy-bark, t or, in the absence 

 of this material, with grass. When the earth is carefully removed 

 and the nest taken out, it is found to be a very loose hollow ball, 

 slightly interwoven and having a small round entrance in the 

 side, opposite the opening of the burrow. Sometimes a small 

 hole in a log of wood is chosen, a crevice in an old wall, a niche 

 under a shelving rock, or the banks of water-holes or creeks, all 

 alike are resorted to ; still I have never known the Spotted 

 Pardalote to breed in the hollow branch of a tree, or take 

 possession of the nests of a Fairy Martin (Lagenoplastes oriel) 

 as P. affinis and P. striatus are wont to do." 



The eggs of Pardalotus pimctatus are four in number, of a 

 beautiful pearly-white after being emptied, but pinkish before, 

 rather roundish, being in length 0'6 inch x 0*5 inch in breadth. 

 The breeding season, which commences sometimes as early as July, 

 lasts until the end of December, during which time three broods 

 are often raised." {Ramsay, Ibis, 1868, Vol. iv.. New Series, 

 p. 272.) 



While collecting with Mr. George Masters at Chatsworth near 

 Mount Druitt, New South Wales, on the 29th September, 1886, 

 a set of these eggs, which are unusally large, were taken, they 

 measure in length (A), 0-77 x 0-58 inch ; (B), 0-71 x 0-55 inch ; 

 (C), 0-7 x 0-54 inch ; (D), 0-71 x 0-57 inch. 



Hah. Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 

 Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New 

 South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania, 

 West and South- West Australia. {Ramsay.) 



t The fibrous bark of the Hucalyptua capitella, M. macrorrhyncha, and 

 other allied species. 

 D 



