THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
potato field at Montagu, and they were possibly breeding, but, not knowing their 
habits of nesting in logs, made no search.” 
Dr. Malcolm Harrison, from Glenorchy, near Hobart, Tasmania, stated : 
“ The Bluebanded Grass Parrakeet visits us in the spring, arriving generally 
in September, and breeding for the most part in November and in early 
December. The grass flats, comparatively sparsely timbered, of the Midland 
portions of the State, appear to be mostly affected by them, and in no parts 
have I known them more numerous than in the Greenponds and Bothwell 
Districts, where food is generally abundant and the timber is not large and 
contains numerous holes and spouts suitable for nesting purposes.” Then 
follow accounts of egg-taking, indicating that in 1907 they were missing 
from places where they had been commonly met with in 1899, and concluding : 
“ The introduced Starling has taken possession of nearly every available hole 
and spout in the country, formerly found so suitable for breeding purposes 
apparently by this Parrakeet, and it appears to me quite possible this may 
account, at least to some extent, for the absence of the latter from those 
particular localities.” 
I recently separated the Tasmanian form subspecifically, but this turns 
out to be the typical subspecies. I had doubted whether I should maintain 
the subspecies under the circumstances, but I find North, who is no splitter, 
has recorded : “ The series of skins in the Australian Museum Collection is a 
small one, but the skin of an adult male labelled ‘ Adelaide 1862,’ and of 
another labelled ‘ Murray River 1867,’ may be easily distinguished from an 
adult procured by Mr. George Masters, at the Ouse River, Tasmania, in March 
1867, by having the centre of the abdomen rich jonquil-yellow.” It seems, 
therefore, Lest to continue the two subspecies : 
Neonanodes chrysostomus chrysostomus (Kuhl). Tasmania. 
As synonyms must be noted P. venustus Temminck, 1821 (not of Kuhl 
1820), and Neonanodes chrysostomus tasmanica Mathews. 
Neonanodes chrysostomus cyanopterus , subsp. n. 
This is the figured and described male, from Melton in Victoria. 
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