PARDALOTUS 
AFFINIS, Gould. 
Allied Pardalote. 
Pipra striata ? Gmel. et Auct. 
Striped-headed Manakin, Shaw, Gen. Zool, vol. x. p. 29, pi. 4.— Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vii. p. 237, pi. cix. 
Pardalotus affinis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, Part V. 1837, p. 25.— Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II. 
The Pardalotus affirm is distinguished by the yellow tips of its spurious wings and by the margin of the third 
primary only being white. The bird figured by Shaw and Latham, as quoted above, has in all probability 
reference to the present species, but not, in my opinion, to the Pipra striata of Gmelin, whose description 
does not agree with the Van Diemen's Land bird, or with any of those from New South Wales ; he distinctly 
states that the tips of some of the wing-coverts are yellow, and that the spurious wing is tipped with white, 
and, moreover, adds that it is a native of South America. 
The Allied Pardalote is distributed over every part of Van Diemen's Land, and may be regarded as the 
commonest bird of the island : wherever the gum and wattle exist there also may the bird as certainly be 
found; giving no decided preference to trees of a high or low growth, but inhabiting alike the sapling and 
those which have attained their greatest altitude. It displays great activity among the branches, clinging 
and creeping about in the most easy and elegant manner, examining both the upper and under sides of the 
leaves with the utmost care in search of insects. It is equally common in all the gardens and shrubberies, 
even those in the midst of the towns, forming a familiar and pleasing object, and enlivening the scenery 
with its sprightly actions, and piping, though somewhat monotonous note. Its food consists of seeds, buds, 
and insects, in procuring which its most elegant actions are brought into play. 
I am led to believe that it is strictly confined to Van Diemen's Land and the islands in Bass's Straits, 
having never observed it on the mainland, or seen specimens in any one of the numerous collections 
I have examined from New South Wales. 
The season of nidification occupies at least four months, during which two or more broods are reared. 
Eggs may be found in September, and on reference to my journal I find that near George Town, on the 
8th of January, I took from a nest in the hole of a tree five fully-fledged young. The nest in this instance 
was of a large size, and of a round domed form like that of the Wren, with a small hole for an entrance ; it 
was outwardly composed of grasses and warmly lined with feathers. The eggs vary from three to five in 
number, and are of a beautiful white, nine lines long by seven lines in diameter. 
The holes selected for the nest are sometimes high up in the loftiest trees, at others within a few feet of 
the ground. The young birds have the tips of the spurious wing orange instead of yellow ; and although 
the whole plumage possesses the same character as that of the adults, the markings are less brilliant and well- 
defined. The sexes offer no observable difference in their colouring by which they can be distinguished. 
Forehead and crown of the head black, the latter with a stripe of white down the centre of each feather ; 
a stripe of yellow commences at the base of the upper mandible, and runs above the eye, where it is joined 
by a stripe of white, which proceeds nearly to the occiput ; back of the neck and back greyish olive brown ; 
rump and upper tail-coverts olive brown ; wings black, each of the primaries slightly tipped with white, and 
the third externally edged with white ; the secondaries edged with white and rufous, and the tips of the 
spurious wing yellow ; tail blackish brown, each feather having a transverse mark of white at the tip; ear- 
coverts and cheeks grey ; throat yellow, passing into lighter yellow on the flanks ; centre of the abdomen 
white ; irides olive brown ; bill black ; feet brown. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
