THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
It may be observed that the interior of Captain Stnrt was the West of 
New South Wales, and was not what we consider the interior nowadays. 
Thus Captain S. A. White, in his trips into the interior proper, did not meet 
with it nor did the Horn Expedition into Central Australia. 
Sturt gave a nice plate, under the name Pctlceornis melanura , in the Two 
Exped. Int. South Austr., Vol. II., pi. opp. p. 191, 1834. 
Mr. Tom Carter has given me the following notes : “ Poly telis melanura . 
These rare birds were first noted by me at Broome Hill on January 21st, 1912. 
The previous year, 1911, had been an exceptionally dry one, and no doubt the 
drought had extended into the far east interior, and the birds had left their 
usual haunts to find better food supplies. They were constantly noted in the 
paddocks close to my house (where the timber was left in its natural state, and 
not killed by ringbarking, in order to encourage bird life) in flocks of up to 
twenty in number until February 3rd, when the last lot were noted, except 
one stray bird on March 12th. Between the hours of 4.30 p.m. and 6 p.m., on 
Januarjf 24th, many small parties of about six in number were seen flying 
about in an apparently excited state, and it seemed as if the bulk of the birds 
left about that date. When first seen they were excessively wild, and I could 
not procure a specimen for sometime, and I tried my best, because I thought 
they were Polytelis alexandrce, an impression partly formed because the species 
under consideration, had the habit of perching lengthways on a branch, as 
does the latter-named bird. Out of eight birds eventually procured, only one 
was in adult male plumage. They fed on the seeds contained in the long pods 
of the Jam trees ( Acacia acuminata), and in very hot days they sheltered quietly 
in the thickly leaved umbrella-like tops of this small timber, and could be 
closely observed if approached with great caution. One of their notes much 
resembled the grating cry of the Redcapped Parrakeet ( Porphyrocephalus 
spurius ) and was uttered as the birds flew ; another note, uttered while they 
were feeding, was very similar to one of the Western Magpie ( Gymnorhina 
dorsalis). Conversations with settlers of 45 years’ residence elicited the state- 
ments that the occurrence of these interesting birds was only at long intervals, 
and in droughty seasons. A friend of mine, who studies bird life and lives 
about forty miles inland from Broome Hill, wrote to inform me that he had 
seen many of these birds at the same time as myself.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby wrote me : “ I obtained a specimen of Polytelis antho- 
peplus at Eticup, near Broome Hill, West Australia, in June, 1889, where it 
was feeding on the freshly-sown wheat. At Loxton in South Australia 
they were common last Christmas (1915). I saw about thirty in a flock 
at Schuetze’s Landing, but they are seldom seen as far down the Murray 
as that.” 
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