/ 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
the time of year in relation to moult or nesting. In many more 
the transitional phases are showing. 
“ (g) Wing measurements in adults show 6.2 to 6.8 inches, mostly 6.5. 
“ I think, with Mr. Robinson, that there is a subspecies, and that it is 
confined to the extreme north of Queensland. About the Richmond River 
we get the species. I think the subspecies is nomadic in Northern 
Queensland, while the species is migratory between Southern Queensland and 
Tasmania.” 
In the Emu , Vol. X., p. 204, 1910, Le Souef described as a new species 
Trichoglossus colesi , from one specimen shot by Mr. Clifford Coles at 
Gladstone, noting : “ This bird probably ranges over the greater portion 
of Eastern Queensland, and its nearest ally is T. novcehollandice .” As a 
matter of fact, the description pointed to the unicum being only an aberration 
of the common T. novcehollandice , and in this conclusion Capt. S. A. White 
unhesitatingly agrees and writes me that the normal birds are common in 
that district. 
In the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., No. 1, Vol. III., pt. i., published on 
7th March, 1911, North gave the distribution (p. 41) “ as far north as Cairns in 
Queensland. Specimens from the latter locality are slightly smaller and 
have the feathers of the head of a brighter blue than examples obtained near 
Sydney.” It will be noted that he has overlooked Hartert’s record from 
Cape York, and Robinson and Laverock’s from Cooktown, both Journals 
easy of access, while even in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum , 
Vol. XX., which he quotes , are specimens listed from Cape York. 
In the Nov. Zool. , Vol. XVTIL, p. 258, 1912, I recognised four sub- 
species thus: 
T. n. novcehollandice .. . . New South Wales, Victoria. 
T. n. eyrei . . . . . . . . South Australia. 
T. n. colesi . . . . . . Mid-Queensland. 
T. n. septentrionalis . . . . North Queensland. 
In my “ List of the Birds of Australia ” of 1913 I conservatively 
reduced the subspecies to two, thus : 
T. n. novcehollandice . . . . South Queensland, Victoria, New 
South Wales, Tasmania and South 
Australia. 
T. n. septentrionalis . . . . North Queensland. 
The criticism of ample material now admits of the following conclusions. 
When a large number of skins are laid out they are separable by colour into 
two lots, one with a brighter head, more blue coloration, the other with a 
duller head, more lilac coloured. All the brighter ones are from Queensland, 
24 
