NEOCIIMIA. 
163 
numbers of them are trapped annually and sent to Sydney, and 
other markets for sale. The nest of this bird is a large dome¬ 
shaped structure, composed of dried grasses, thickly lined with 
feathers, and is usually placed in a low shrub or among long grass, 
the eggs are five in number for a sitting, pure white, specimens taken 
by Mr. Geo. Barnard of Coomooboolaroo, Queensland, measure :— 
(A) 064 x 044 inch ; (B) 0'62 x 045 inch. October and the 
three following months constitute the usual breeding period of 
this species, but like many of the birds of central Queensland, the 
breeding season is greatly influenced by the rains. 
Hcib. Wide Bay District, Dawson Iti vcr, Richmond and 
Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, Interior. (Ramsay ) 
Genus NEOCHMIA, Hotribron ct Jacquinot. 
NEOCHMIA PHAETON, Hombron at Jacquinot. 
Crimson Finch. 
Gould, IlandbJc. Rds. Aust., Yol. i., sp. 256, p. 315. 
“ The eggs here described were taken by Mr. J. Rainbird in 1864 
f> oui some of the nests at that time common on extensive grass 
lands near Port Denison. The nest is like all others of the family 
a flask-shaped structure of grasses, with a long narrow entrance, 
placed on its side in any convenient place, either in Pandanus trees 
or adjacent shrubs or among the stronger of the grass stems. The 
eggs font - or live for a sitting are small in comparison with the 
size of the birds ; length 0-65 x 045 inch in breadth.” ( Ramsay , 
P.L.S., N.S.W., 2nd Series, Yol. i., p. 1148.) 
Mr. J. A. Boyd informs me that a pair of these birds built their 
nest on the wall-plate in one of the corners of the verandah of his 
house on the Herbert River, Queensland, utilising the iron roof as 
a shelter to the nest. In his opinion they were probably induced to 
do this by some captive compatriots placed there, and the canary 
seed they picked up near their cage. 
