BLACK-HEADED PARDALOTE. 
Pardalotus melanocephalus barroni. Northern Black-headed Pardalote. 
Eggs. Four eggs form the clutch. A clutch of four taken at the Murray River, Cardwell, 
North Queensland, on the 23rd of September, 1916, is pure white. Very rounded 
ovals in shape ; shell fine and slightly glossy. 17 mm. by 13. 
Nest. Similar to that of P. p. punctatus, and placed in like situations (at end of tunnel). 
Breeding-months. June to December. (April.) 
Pardalotus melanocephalus uropygialis. 
Eggs. Three to four for a sitting, usually three. A clutch of three eggs taken at 
Borroloola, Macartkur River, Northern Territory, on the 12th of June, 1913, is 
pure white. Very round in shape ; shell fine, and almost devoid of gloss. 15-16 
mm. by 13. 
Nest. Similar to that of P. p. punctatus, and P. m. melanocephalus, and placed in like 
situations (at end of tunnel). 
Breeding-months. June to November. 
Though Gould described this species he never saw it alive himself and 
recorded nothing regarding its habits. 
Writing of the birds of North-east Queensland, chiefly Rockingham Bay, 
Ramsay stated : “ Perhaps the most common species. It resorts to the 
topmost leafy twigs, where it secures its food of insects and their larvae.” 
Bemey, writing from the Richmond District, North Queensland, noted: 
“ A very common Pardalote here. Its monotonous ‘ Chuc, chuc,’ is 
heard all day long on the river. A nest containing two eggs was found in a 
sandbank on 27th June, 1903.” 
Webb, from the Herbert River, observed “ On 30th of April last, while 
walking close to the edge of a shallow, open wall in sandy soil, I disturbed 
a Pardalote (P. melanocephalus) from its nest. On digging the nest out I 
found two eggs, both considerably incubated. Surely April is a curious time 
to breed.” 
Campbell and Barnard added very little when they wrote about the Buds 
of Rockingham Bay, merely stating “ These familiar birds were everywhere. 
In the sides of watercourses (dry or otherwise) in some localities their burrows 
were almost every few yards, but did not always contain eggs. Some of the 
burrows had the appearance of having been rifled by reptiles. Fiuther south, 
at Mackay, these Pardalotes were nesting during July.” 
In tins case they did not even discuss the subspecific variation, as the 
Cairns’ bird has an orange-yellow rump, while Gould described his P. melano¬ 
cephalus, the name they used, as having “ the upper tail-coverts brownish- 
buff,” and distinguished his P. uropygialis on account of the “ bright yellow 
colouring of the lower part of the back.” 
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