j-nQtvw. museum 
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THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Pardalotinus striatus assimilis. 
Eggs. Three to four eggs form the clutch. Nest and eggs similar to those of P. s. striatus. 
Breeding-months. August to December. 
Apparently this little “ Manakin ” was procured by Anderson on a Third 
Voyage of Captain Cook in Tasmania and was described from a specimen 
brought home. Latham gave no locality at first but corrected it almost at 
once upon referring to Anderson’s papers. Gmelin overlooked the correction 
and as “ Manakins ” came from South America added that locality. This 
error misled Gould who differentiated between the Tasmanian and New South 
Wales birds, and his field-notes are the earliest I have noted. 
Gould wrote : “ This beautiful species, like the P. punctatus, enjoys an 
extensive range of habitat, being found in all parts of the southern portion 
of the Australian continent; it has not as yet been discovered in Tasmania, 
its place in that island being apparently occupied by the P. affinis. I have 
carefully examined specimens killed at Swan River with others from hew 
South Wales, and I cannot find any difference either in their size or markings. 
It will be interesting to know how far this species and the P. punctatus extend 
their range northwards, a point which can only be ascertained when the 
country has been fully explored. This active little bird is generally seen 
seeking insects among the leaves, for which purpose it frequents trees of every 
description, but gives a decided preference to the Eucalypti. Its flight 
is rapid and darting, hence it passes from tree to tree, or from one part of 
the forest to another, with the greatest ease. Its voice is a double note several 
times repeated.” 
As I am regarding the three so-called species, affinis, assimilis and ornatus, 
as one species under the name striatus, and as my correspondents differ, I am 
quoting their notes in connection with the name they used. 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has written me from Cobbora, New South Wales: 
“ P. ornatus is a very common bird throughout the Avhole district, and found 
in all sorts of timbered country, from almost open paddocks, with only a few 
dead trees remaining, to thick heavy ironbarlc scrubby ridges, and I have 
noted it feeding from the ground to the leafy tops of the tallest tiees. It is 
a very tame and fearless species. I have often seen them come imdei mv 
verandah to within a few feet of me, and examine every hole they could see 
from the floor to the ceiling searching for a nesting hollow. I fastened several 
cocoanut shells to the wall with a small round hole drilled into them, and 
although I often suav the birds enter them, they never used any for a nesting 
place. They nest in a great variety of situations, but mostly within hollow 
branches of dead trees, and in a small hole drilled into a perpendicular bank 
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