BED-COLLARED LORIKEET. 
favourite with the natives, who carefully preserve the heads of all they kill 
for the purpose of ornamenting their persons by slinging them to the arm 
a little above the elbow. It is generally seen in large flocks, feeding on the 
summits of the loftiest trees. Its flight is rapid in the extreme. Like the 
other Trichoglossi, its food consists of honey and the buds of flowers.” 
From this note Gould concluded : “ This lovely Trichoglossus inhabits the 
northern coasts of Australia, and is as beautiful a representative of its near 
ally, the T. multicolor of the south coast, as can well be imagined. In 
their habits and economy also the two birds so closely approximate that 
a description of one will serve for both.” 
This may be quite true, but I have seen no further note of its habits 
since the time of Gilbert. 
Masters also noted it was very common at Port Darwin, and recently 
Barnard in the Emu, Vol. XIV., p. 46, 1914, has written of it in the Northern 
Territory as “Very common all along the M’ Arthur, where they bred freely, 
from May to December, in the hollow spouts of the swamp gums. Two 
eggs form a clutch.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers has written me : “ At Marngle Creek a few pairs were 
seen : none were seen at Mungi. Mr. Logue, owner of Knowla Downs 
Station, who knows this bird well, tells me it is very rare on his station, 
but in seasons when flowers are numerous it becomes very common. The 
first seen on my return trip to Derby were about 10 miles south of Fitzroy 
River.” From Melville Island he wrote: “Nov. 6, 1911. This species is 
numerous when the trees are in bloom. Dec. 7, 1911. Very numerous in the 
flowering gums three miles north of Cooper’s Camp. Jan. 13, 1912. Ten miles 
S.E. of Snake Bay. Many gums are now in bloom and this species is very 
numerous.” 
Very few notes are on record, as far as I have been able to trace?, and 
its life history is practically unknown. 
Crossman {Emu, IX., p. 149, 1910) records from Broome, North-west 
Australia, that the Red-collared Lorikeet ( Trichoglossus rubritorques ) is 
‘‘ Plentiful at times. Four which I saw in a cage had the breast more 
orange than red, as mentioned in Hall’s ‘ Key ’ (1st edition).” 
G. F. Hill {Emu, X., p. 268, 1911) added: “Arrived at Napier Broome 
Bay on 28/11/09, and were seen in small flocks until 2/3/10. Their food, during 
these months, consisted of honey from Orevillea and cajaput flowers and 
fruit juice of a certain tree.” 
As might be anticipated, the scientific history of the bird is also scanty. 
Hartert regarded it at one time as a subspecies of T. hcematodes Linne, 
chiefly on account of the generic coloration, but that is not a good conclusion. 
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