THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
beautiful frill which adorns the neck of the P. australis is acquired in the 
spring, worn during the breeding season, and then cast off, when the face 
becomes of a greyish white, or similar in colour to the other part of the neck.” 
I suggest this was written from Gould’s knowledge of the European bird, 
and not from the actual facts, and would ask Australian ornithologists for 
further information. 
In confirmation of my conjecture that the birds wear the same plumage 
throughout the year, would appear to be the habits of the Glebes bird, 
of which Grant {Cat. B. Brit. Mus,, XXVI., p. 517) wrote: “I am thus 
led to the belief that P. tricolor does not assume a winter or non-breedinsf 
o 
plumage like the rest of its allies.” 
My measurements of a series of Australian and European examples read : — 
Culmen. Wing. Tarsus, Longest Toe. 
P. cristatus cristatus 52-57 188-190 62-66 70-73.5 
„ christiani 47-53 170-180 55-59 63-65 
A noticeable feature in the Australian subspecies is the shortness of the toes ; 
and though the biU is not much shorter, it is decidedly more slender. 
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