62 
HORN EXPEDITION-AVES. 
direction indicated, and after going about two hundred yards saw what at first 
appeared to be a Cockatoo-parrot fiying towards me. Having carefully noted the 
branch on which it perched, I hurried forward, but, notwithstanding the sparse 
foliage of the tree, I had to look carefully for some minutes before I found it. 
Immediately the shot was fired a number of these beautiful birds flew out of the 
trees in all directions, in twos, threes and fours. Five birds flew into one tree, 
but I had to walk round three times before I could see them. At last four heads 
were visible just raised from the thick limb, the bodies and tails lying horizontally 
along the timber. 
I have since heard that one of their breeding-places has been discovered on 
the Hale River. Mr. Charles Pritchard, who accompanied the party as prospector 
for gold, and assisted me in obtaining my birds, has forwarded to me three eggs 
out of a clutch of five, which is the usual number. They closely resemble those of 
Platycercus exiviius in shape and size, but have a smooth, glossy surface, more like 
a pigeon’s egg. I liave since compared them with one laid by Mr. Magarey’s bird 
in captivity, and find they exactly correspond. 
Writing under date 15th November, 1891, Mr. Pritchard says ;—'■'•Re their 
appearance here. This is the first time on record that they have made this their 
breeding-ground, but I do not think they have come to stay, and perhaps in a 
year or so they may be as rare as ever. These birds travel in lots from one pair 
up to nearly any number, are very tame, feeding about in the grass near the camp, 
and seem in no way afraid of people, cattle or horses. They breed in hollow trees, 
laying five eggs in a clutch, and several pairs of birds occupy holes in the same 
tree. They are nesting now in the eucalypts on the banks of the Hale River and 
other large watercourses. They do not always lie along the limbs as you found 
them at Glen Edith, but perch as other Parrots. I have a number in captivity, 
amongst them being an old male bird with a tail seventeen inches long.” 
Mr. E. C. Cowle also writes, under same date, that the Princess of Wales 
Parrakeets occasionally fly around liis camp at Illamurta, and are breeding on the 
Hugh River.] 
Under date of 28th April, 1895, Mr. Keartland writes me from Melbourne as 
follows ;—“ Mr. Winnecke, one of the members of our late Expedition, has sent me 
a pair of live Polytelis alexandree. I never saw Parrots so tame and gentle. They 
will fly off the top perch in the aviary on to my arm and eat seed out of my hand, 
and allow me to stroke them. Mr. Winnecke was informed tliat when the young 
