THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
White Gums. South of the Gascoyne, it has not been observed by me, but 
it is quite possible it may extend further south to the Wooramel River (70 
miles south) as it is an unobtrusive little bird, and easily overlooked unless 
its subdued but pretty little song is heard. Both sexes utter it. These birds 
are not uncommon in White Gums about the bed of the Gascoyne River, one 
mile from the sea. Some observers consider it an inland bird only. A nest 
containing small young birds was found in a steep bank of an island in the 
Gascoyne River, a mile from sea on Sept. 21st, 1913. The nest was made 
of dry grass and was about 21 feet from entrance.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers wrote : “ At Marngle Creek a few of these birds were 
seen or oftener heard ; their call is softer than that of P. uropygialis. At 
present they are feeding in Eucalyptus and paper-bark (May 28th, 1911). 
At Mungi this was the common Pardalote and was usually seen in 
Eucalyptus trees, but was often seen in low wattle scrub.” 
Mr. Rogers notes from the Fitzroy River, North-west Australia, recorded 
by Hall, read : “ Its note is very soft and repeated twice when calling. The 
answering notes are pitched in a lower key. I noted one bird having a 
struggle in the breaking of a large white grub. It went from bough to bough, 
and stayed very little time on any one branch. On 23rd July, 1901, I found 
a nest in a bank overhanging a water-hole. The bank was set like cement 
for the first two inches, after that sand. It is wonderful that such little birds 
can do this lathe-like drilling. It went in for 18 inches. Dimensions of 
chamber, 4 x 4 X 5*5 inches ; nest lined with paper-bark.” 
The technical history of this beautiful species is brief and without any 
complications. When Gould described his new bird he stated that it came 
from Australia and later admitted he did not know the exact locality. 
However, Ramsay recorded it from the Ethridge River, Queensland, thus 
confirming the East Coast habitat, as most of Gould’s earlier named species 
did come from the eastern parts. Later, Ramsay reported upon Cairn’s 
collection from Derby, North-west Australia, and included Pardalotus 
rubricatus, writing : “ Similar in every respect to individuals from Central 
Queensland. This bird appears to be very plentiful a few miles inland from 
Derby ; it is very rarely found in N.S. Wales.” 
Whitlock then found it on the Pilbarra Goldfield, and struck by the pale 
coloration Campbell described it as a new species, Pardalotus pallidus. 
Whitlock himself recognised the affinity, naming it Pardalotus ( rubricatus ) 
pallidus in liis field-notes. It is not a common bird save in not easily 
accessible districts, so that when I prepared my “ Reference List ” in 1912 
I had not a lot of material from many localities. It was obvious, however, 
that P. pallidus was merely a pale race of rubricatus and I added a third thus: 
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