88 
HORN RXPP:DITI0N—AYES. 
One adult male, Levi Range ; one young male, Swallow Creek. The latter 
differs from the adult in being destitute of the black patcli in the centre of the 
chest, and in having only a sliglit indication of the chestnut cheeks and ear-coverts 
and the narrow transverse black lines on the throat and sides of the chest. Rill, 
orange. 
[These finches were met with in enormous flocks at the rock pools in the 
ranges, and in smaller numbers all along the route wherever water was near. At 
Ooraminna Waterhole they were so plentiful that tlieir droppings were sevei’al 
inches deep under the bushes. They appear to breed nearly all the year round, 
and to build their grass nests in all sorts of places, sometimes singly, but frequently 
in company. At Davenport Creek nine nests (three of which contained eggs) were 
found on one small bush. At Red Mulga Creek nests were found concealed 
amongst the debris left by floods, whilst at Heavitree Gap fresh eggs were taken 
from an old nest in which birds had been reared. Other nests were found in grass 
tussocks and the prickly “ nigger-head,” and at Alice Springs one was built on a 
shelf inside the blacksmith’s shop. Unlike most finches these eggs have a decided 
blue tinge, five generally forming the clutch.] 
No. 5.3. Emblem A picta, Gould. Painted Finch. 
Emblema picta, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1842, p. 17 ; id., Bds. Austr., fob, 
Vol. III., pi. 97 (1848); Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. I., 2nd .series, p. 
1092 (188G) ; Sharpe, Brit. IMus. Cat. Bds., Vol. XIII., p. 295 (1890). 
One adult male, one female, and one young male, police camp, McMinn’s 
Range; one adult male and two females, Bagot’s Spring; one adult female, 
Mereenie Bluff. Two specimens marked females, probably veiy old birds, are 
similar in plumage to the fully adult male. 
A set of eggs of this species, since received by Mr. Keartland, and taken by 
Mr. E. C. Cowle at Illamurta, Central Australia, on the 6th January, 1895, from 
a dome-shaped nest composed of dried grasses and lined with feathers, are pure 
white and measure as follows :—Length (A) 0’66 inch x 0’45 inch; (B) O'GG 
inch X 0‘42 inch; (C) O'G inch x 0'45 inch; (D) 0'63 inch x 0’42 inch; (E) 0‘59 
inch X 0'43 inch. 
[These beautiful finches were first found in the rocky gorges of McMinn’s 
Range and subsequently at Stokes’ Pass, Glen of Palms, and Bagot’s Spring. They 
are very timid and somewhat diflicult to approach. Although there is no sexual 
difference in plumage, they vary with age. The scarlet patch, so conspicuous on 
