78 
The Diamond Fhich. 
several times, and took tlie ej^t^s of the Eaj^ie and ImiicIi at the 
same time. North states tlie species is nunierous in N.S. Wales 
and Victoria, and that the nest is composed of dried wiry 
grasses, etc., of a spherical form with an elongated neck for 
ingress and egress; it is usually placed low down in the thick 
foliage of a Syncarpia. Eiicalyt'tits. or Angophora in N.S 
Wales. The clutch is five or six white eggs, rather elongate in 
form and nearly equal in size at both ends. September and the 
three following months constitute the breeding season. 
Captivity: 1 have always found them amiable in a 
mi.\ed series, providing the aviary was not over-crowded; 
though in other aviaries I have seen pairs which were said to be 
meddlesome and interfering with the smaller species, and I have 
heard of others, but I certainly consider them safe for the mixed 
aviary, providing there is ample room for all. 
One writer at least gives them the reputation of being easy 
to breed; they are certainly ready enough to go to nest, but it 
is not the general experience for many young to be reared ; some 
have found them quite disappointing, and could get no results 
from them, though the accommodation was good and natural. 
Personally, T have had a good few p;iirs one time and another, 
and have found some pairs very unsatisfactory and others just 
the reverse. The only thing to do is, that if a pair did not rear 
young by the end of the third season, they should be got rid of- - 
they might do quite well in another aviary, but such pairs ought 
not to be sold without the purchaser being informed as to their 
lack of inclination to go to nest. 1 have seen pairs which have 
been quite prolific, seen their progeny too, but I never possessed 
such a pair, though young have been reared in my aviaries on 
more than one occasion. 
Their call note is very ])laintive and iminspiring, but is 
not unpleasing as part of the avian choir. In the aviary thev 
are interesting and attractive, nearly always " in the picture." 
Their love dance is very grotesnue and interesting — perched on 
a stem he i)ulls himself very erect, the neck being stretched, 
chest and abdomen puffed out, and with straw in beak, head 
depressed and mostly turned a little aside, he bobs up and down 
uttering all the while his queer, plaintive little song. He is very 
