THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
subsist on the small seeds of the Spinifex ( Triodia ) and seek shelter in the 
desert oaks ( Casuarina ). But whenever their breeding places have been 
discovered they were near water. During September or October, 1895, 
Mr. Chas. Pritchard found them breeding on the Todd, Hugh, and Palmer 
Rivers. Although they had not been known to visit these localities during 
the previous thirty years, strange to relate, they bred there again in 1901. 
. . . Gould was slightly in error in stating that this bird is of the same size as 
P. barrabandi . It is much smaller, but has a longer and narrower tail.” 
Later (Sept., 1905) he added : “ Last month Mr. L. A. Wells wrote to me 
saying, that, whilst on the Alb erg a River recently, he found these birds breeding 
within 80 miles of Oodnadatta, the terminus of the transcontinental railway. 
This is the first time they have been noted in South Australia proper, and the 
most southerly point by several hundred miles of which we have any record.” 
Later Heartland put all his notes together for North, who published them in 
the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., No. 1., Vol. III., from which I quote the following : 
“ Spathopterus alexandroe has a singular habit of lying along the stout limbs of 
a tree like a lizard, instead of perching on a twig or thin branch. In Central 
Australia we only met with these birds on the 16th June, 1894, between 
Glen Edith and Deering Creek. The late Professor Ralph Tate informed 
me that he had seen a strang e-looking Parrakeet in some Casuarince near at 
hand, and after going about two hundred yards in the direction indicated, 
saw what appeared to me a Calopsittacus novcehollandice flying towards me, 
and which alighted on the branch of a tree, and noth withstanding the sparse 
foliage, I had to look carefully for some minutes before I found it. Immedi- 
ately the shot was fired a number of these beautiful birds flew out of the tree 
in all directions, in twos, threes and fours. Five birds flew into one tree, but 
I had to walk round it before I saw them. At last four heads were visible 
just raised from the thick limb, the bodies and tails lying horizontally along 
the timber. Subsequently Mi'. Charles Pritchard, who accompanied the party 
as gold prospector, informed me that a breeding-place had been discovered on 
the Hale River, and in sending me three eggs of a set of five, wrote me from that 
locality, under date 15th November, 1894, as follows : “ This is the first time on 
record that they have made this their breeding ground, but I do not think they 
have come to stay, and perhaps in a year or so they may be as rare as ever. 
They travel in flocks, from one pair up to nearly any number, are very tame, 
feeding about the grass near the camp, and seem in no way afraid of people, 
cattle or horses. They breed in hollow trees, laying five eggs, and several 
pairs of birds occupy holes in the same tree. They are nesting now in the 
Eucalypts on the banks of the Hale River and other large water courses ! 
Mr. C. E. Cowle also wrote under same date that this Parrakeet was breeding 
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