BLUE-FACED LORILET. 
much that they named the species. Quaintly Gould, at Waller’s request, 
named the species maccoyi after Professor Maccoy, while the latter, ignorant 
of this proposal, independently named it leadbeateri, and this last name is the 
oldest. Ramsay claimed to have described it in a newspaper, but I have 
been unable to trace his description. 
Apart from the confusion in connection with the triple nomination of 
the bird, little has been written concerning the species. Thus Campbell 
writes : “ In February, 1894, Mr. W. B. Barnard, after a northern tour, 
forwarded me some interesting field notes, including one referring to this 
Lorilet, with a skin for identification. Two nests were found in small holes 
in trees, at a height of about forty feet from the ground ; the eggs were 
deposited about a foot downward from the entrance. The birds were discovered 
breeding in the scrub and forest country alike, from September to November. 
During my own Cardwell camp-out (1885) we procured skins of the Blue-faced 
Lorilet.” 
In the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., No. 1, Vol. III., dealing with the “ Nests 
and Eggs of Birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania,” no mention 
is made of either of these Lorilets, the author, North, absolutely ignoring 
their occurrence in the country. Such action makes caustic criticism necessary, 
and H. J. White has already commented upon the manner in which his Title 
had been neglected by the author. 
In the South Austr. Ornith., Vol. II., 1915, I have given a note written by 
Bowyer-Bower at Barron River, Queensland : “ Appears plentiful, but is often 
overlooked, as it makes no noise when feeding, and creeps about like a mouse. 
The only indication of its presence is the quantity of seeds that keep dropping 
all the time it is feeding, but even under the very tree it is in one can see and 
hear nothing of it, except by carefully watching. It only makes a noise as it 
leaves or arrives at a tree.” A 
Nothing further is recorded of this bird. Although I differentiated the 
Barron River form, I here suppress it until more material becomes available, 
though I would observe that the sub specific values in this genus as recognised 
in New Guinea forms are very slight. 
A new subspecies or even species is indicated by the following item. 
Macgillivray , under the name Cyclopsitta 7naccoyi, wrote {Emu, Vol. XIII., 
p. 155, 1914) : “ When camped a few miles from the Jardine River, on the 
Cape York Peninsula, a pair of small Lorikeets was noted feeding high up in 
a flowering bloodwood near the camp. One was shot, but fell into some tea- 
tree brush and could not be found. Mr. M’Lennan is sure that they were of 
this species.” 
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