THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Pardalotus punctatus xanthopygus. 
Eggs. Three to four eggs form the clutch. A clutch of four taken at Murtoa, Victoria, on 
the 4tli of October, 1896, is pure white. Swollen ovals in shape ; shell fine, smooth 
and glossy. 16-17 mm. by 13. 
Nest. A perfectly round structure of bark, and placed in the liollowed-out chamber at the 
end of a tunnel in the ground ; the tunnel often being made into a flat surface, and 
travelling in a sloping direction for two or three feet. 
Breeding-months. August to end November. 
When Shaw and Nodder described this species they gave no field-notes, and 
when Latham included it in his Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of 
Birds he knew nothing, acknowledging : “ I am indebted to the pencil of 
General Davies for these descriptions, taken from specimens in the possession 
of Captain King. These seem to have some affinity to the Striped-headed 
Manaldn.” 
Vigors and Horsfield recorded : “ We are informed by Mr. Caley that 
‘ this species is called Diamond-Bird by the settlers, from the spots on its body. 
By them it is reckoned a valuable bird on account of its skin. It is not 
very plentifully to be met with. Ifc inhabits both forest-land and brushes; 
at least I have seen it in both.’ ” 
Gould’s account is mainly concerned with the peculiarity and beauty 
of the nesting site and nest, but I quote : “ No species of the genus Pardalotus 
is more widely and generally distributed than the Spotted Diamond-Bird, 
for it inhabits the whole of the southern parts of the Australian continent 
from the western to the eastern extremities of the country, and is very 
common in Tasmania. It is incessantly engaged in searching for insects 
among the foliage, both of trees of the highest growth and of the lowest shrubs ; 
it frequents gardens and enclosures as well as the open forest, and is exceedingly 
active in its actions, clinging and moving about in ever}’’ variety of position 
both above and beneath the leaves with equal facility. . . The song is 
a rather harsh piping note of two syllables often repeated.” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin of Cobbora, New South Wales, has written: “Not 
nearly such a common species in these parts as Pardalotus ornatus, but still 
it may be in greater numbers than it appears, because at times it is rather 
silent, and as it often keeps high up in the larger trees it can easily escape 
notice. I have never met with it in the open country ; it seems to keep in 
the thicker forests. Most of the nests I have noticed here have been mouse¬ 
like holes drilled into the ground anywhere amongst fallen leaves in forest 
country, and have only been discovered by a bird flushing from the nest almost 
at my horse’s feet as I rode past; if the bird did not flush the nest would 
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