THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
P. acuticauda in a small flock for the purpose of drinking from a rock-hole. 
I find them near the coast rather than inland. On 31/8/00 I met a large flock 
of P. mirabilis and P. gouldice on a sand-ridge fifteen miles inland from Derby. 
I believe these birds are now (24/3/00) nesting, as I saw a pair building up an 
old nest which was placed in a bunch of spinifex. I have always seen the birds 
in rough, stony country. In no place are they plentiful, as about 15-20 is 
the most I have seen congregated. This was in December. The stomachs 
of those dissected were fuU of spinifex seed. I saw, at Breakaway on 15/1/01, 
a large flock of Finches. They consisted of P. gouldice, P. mirabilis, 
and T. castanotis. The green backs of the former are verj- beautiful as they 
appear with the rising of the birds against the dry grass.” 
Bemey wrote from the Richmond district. North Queensland; 
“ Concerning this very handsome Finch, I cannot do better than repeat the 
information given me by a bird-catcher rvho is a keen ornithologist. He reported 
it as being a summer visitant to the Homestead district, where the earliest 
arrivals nright be looked for at the end of November, or more probably during 
December, the main body arriving during January, by the end of which month 
they woidd be fairly plentiful. They nested here, buildhig their nests in the 
spouts of hollow trees, and left again at the end of April, when they are supposed 
to journey north-west. AU the old birds and most of the young ones go, but 
some of the latter remaiir right tlrrough the winter. The immature, which 
are very plain coloured, do not obtam their full adult plumage till Christmas. 
They extend as far west along the irorthem railway fine as Torrens Creek. 
They are always known as ‘ Painters ’ to Homestead people.” 
Hill recorded from Napier Broome Bay, North-west Australia: “ On 
16th and 19th November, flocks of these Finches arrived at the station, and 
remained a couple of weeks. Six weeks later many more arrived, and 
remained rmtil the beginning of July. None of these birds nested in the 
district. The red and black-headed varieties were always found m the same 
flocks, the latter outnumbering the former by about three to one.” 
iVIacgiUivray has written: “ First observed on the Leichliardt River, 
tw'o miles beyond Augustus DoAvns. Seven mUes from the Leiclihardt, on the 
Gregory River track, they came to a water-hole at night hi numbers.” 
Barnard has observed, from the McArthur River, Northern Territoiy: 
“ This handsome Finch was often seen on dry ridges at long distances from 
water. It resorts to small hollows m trees for nesting purposes, and several 
pairs nest in the same hoUow. An mstance of this came under my notice 
wliile coUecthig on the McArthur. In a swamp gum growing on the bank 
of the river, tliree nesting hoUows were foimd at heights varjung from 20 to 
40 feet from the ground. One hollow contained five eggs, of two distinct types; 
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