THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
habitat tends to earlv extinction, and especially as its predilection tor the maize 
crops brings it under the ban ot the grower. 
In the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., No. 1, Vol. III. North’s notes in connection 
with this species refer almost entirely to the nesting habits. North’s own 
notes are the most important, but as they simply cover the preceding informa- 
tion I have not reproduced them. He, however, added : “ Although some of its 
notes are harsh and loud, the male utters at times a soft and musical double 
call note.” 
The subspecies are fairly well defined as the northern one was indicated 
simultaneously by British and Australian Workers. Thus Robinson and 
Laverock in the Ibis , 1900, p. 644, wrote : “ Mr. Olive has forwarded a very 
large series of this species from the neighbourhood of Cairns. The dimensions 
are slightly less, and the scarlet of the head and under surface much deeper 
than in specimens from Moreton Bay and Port Stephens.” Campbell, in his 
Nests and Eggs of Austr. Birds , Vol. II., p. 628, 1901, gave : “ It ranges through 
the wooded tracts of Eastern Australia from near Cape York to Cape Otway. 
It is a familiar bird in Gippsland, •where its shrill, high pitched single call note 
frequently resounds through the forest depths. The tropical bird is smaller 
and richer in colouring, especially in the scarlet, which is of dazzling brightness.” 
North concluded : “ Typically specimens from Cairns, are smaller than 
others obtained much farther south, on the Bellinger River. From the former 
locality the wing measurement of adult males varies from 7.3 to 7.5 
inches, and from the latter locality 8.3 to 8.4 inches. Intermediate sized 
forms, however, are to be found in the Cairns District, the wing measur- 
ment of one adult male being 7.75 inches. The bills of the northern 
birds are, too, comparatively larger. I cannot distinguish any difference in 
colour ; newly moulted birds from New South Wales are as brilliant in colour 
as are those from Cairns. Many, however, of the specimens from the latter 
locality were procured just before the moult, and have that orange shade to the 
feathers which is also seen in specimens obtained in Southern Australia.” 
Simultaneously, I emphasized this difference by the proposal of a subspecific 
name {Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 23, June, 1911) — 
“ Alisierus cyanopygius minor subsp. nov. 
Differs from A. c. cyanopygius in its much smaller size. Measurements 
of the “wings of six males of A. c. cyanopygius gives 209 to 216 mm. : that 
of the same number of A. c. minor gives 188 to 198 mm. Hab. Cairns, North 
Queensland.” 
When I drew up my “ Reference List,” I separated the Victorian bird 
as A. c. neglectus , as I found it to be larger than the New South Wales form. 
These I maintained in my List of the Birds of Australia , and here recognise 
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