THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Under the name Barnardius seynitorquatus, Mr. Tom Carter has written 
me : “ These birds simply swarm all through the south-west in the neighbour- 
hood of orchards, especially when the fruit begins to ripen. They are not so 
much in evidence in the bush, and one wonders at the numbers that can be 
shot at in an orchard, for weeks together, without apparently reducing their 
numbers. Thus, while staying at the Warren, on the Warren River, in the 
extreme south-west corner, for about ten days in February, 1910, Mr. Brockman 
and myself between us shot from fifty to one hundred every day, but there 
seemed as many as ever. I may mention that out of some hundreds of dead 
birds that passed through my hands there, only one had anything in the nature 
of a yellow ventral band, and that was slight. Birds shot by me about Denmark 
(on Wilson’s Inlet on south coast) had all green underparts. About Broome 
Hill and east of there, most of the birds had yellow bands. On the coastal 
hills, near Cape Naturaliste, these birds were in immense numbers (green 
bodies) in the summer months (Dec. -January). The birds at Broome Hill 
are very wary when breeding, and I never found a nest, nor yet had any eggs 
brought to me, although boys were offered 6d. for each egg, and they tried hard 
to get some. The earliest fledged young were noted on Sept. 29, 1910, and 
others on various dates to Nov. 20 in other years at Broome Hill. The young 
begin to eat fruit in early December. I have often seen the old birds bite off 
a long shoot, bearing several peaches, from a tree, and then descend to the 
ground to eat the fruit in greater comfort. Several times have I been picking 
peaches from one side of a tree (about five years old) and after some minutes 
discover that some of these Parrots were doing the same on the other side. 
The only way in which I could save Peaches was by enclosing the trees in 
wire netting on a frame around them. When the trees were young and peaches 
few, I tried sewing muslin bags round the fruit, but the Parrots either promptly 
tore the bags to pieces or bit the branches in two. They ate Quinces when 
quite hard and green. Even before there is any fruit on the trees, these birds 
bite through or round the young branches, and so killed them. They are terrible 
pests. The local name through the south-west generally is “ Ring-necks.” 
About Kellenberin, 100 miles east of Perth, one of the smaller subspecies occurs, 
perhaps connectens. They are equally destructive to fruit, especially grapes, 
which are largely grown in that district. The eggs (about six in number) are 
placed in cavities high up in the trees.” 
Mr. W. B. Alexander informs Me : “ B. z. semitorquatus. This is the 
true ‘ Twenty-eight,’ so called from the considerable resemblance of one of its 
calls to these syllables. It is very plentiful from Perth round the south-west 
to Albany, its range appearing to coincide with that of the Jarrah ( Eucalyptus 
marginata). B. z. dundasi. This smaller form of the ‘ Twenty-eight,’ which 
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