VoL i 924 IV ’ ] A. H. CHISHOLM, Seeking Rare Parrots. 
27 
Parrot, the blue-faced species of the far north (O. leadbeaten ) 
had been reported in recent times, and its eggs secured. For 
all that, however, we could find no traces of Coxen's bird, much 
less of its nest and eggs. The elder naturalists missed the species 
from places where they knew it of old, and we younger men 
could not locate the bird in any of our numerous jungle ex¬ 
cursions. 
Having these points in mind, I was a little surprised to re¬ 
ceive, in reply to an inquiry launched through the Brisbane 
Daily Mail, information that the Red-faced Fig-Parrot was still 
fairly numerous in the “scrubs” of the Blackall Range, an area ' 
not far from the type locality. My informant, Mr. Charles Ben- 
fer, intimated that the Fig-Parrots—“lovely little birds,” he 
termed them—were very quiet and difficult to locate. They lived 
solely on figs when the fruit was ripe, but he had seen them 
eating “wild cherries” at other times. Just then (May, 1922) 
there were not many of the birds about, he said, but others were 
expected back in August, the idea being that most of the birds 
had gone north for the winter. Mr. Benfer added that the nests 
were to be located in the hollow branches of trees. 
That is all I can offer regarding the present position of the 
Red-faced Fig-Parrot, the only Australian Parrot whose eggs 
have not been taken, and of which Mathews wrote (1917) : “Ap¬ 
parently nothing whatever is known of the life-history of this 
bird.” In the spring of 1922 \ started north from Brisbane with 
the intention, chiefly, of seeking the Fig-Parrot, the Paradise 
Parrot and the Green Ground Parrot. A healthy ambition for 
one trip, was it not? Difficulties of time arose, however, and 
the Lorilet locality had regretfully to be excised from the 
itinerary. 
THE GROUND-PARROT IN QUEENSLAND. 
Commencing with Gould, who found the Ground (or Swamp) 
Parrot “diffused over the whole of the southern portions of Aus¬ 
tralia, including Tasmania, wherever localities exist suitable to 
its habits,” there have been various short notes written from time 
to time concerning the strange Parrot known technically as 
Peso poms wallicus (also as P. formosus and P. terrestris). 'The" 
species had, indeed, been known as early as 1792, and up to 
about fifty years ago it was frequently seen near Sydney, not¬ 
ably on the precise spot (the populous suburb of Kensington), 
where these lines are being written; though in recent years it 
has everywhere been regarded as a very rare bird. At no time, 
however, has anything definite been set down regarding the 
presence of the species in the north of Australia; in bird books 
generally Queensland is not included in its range. (A. f. Camp¬ 
bell uses a query in adding South Queensland to the distribution 
of Pezoporus , whereas the books of A. J. North, Lucas and 
Le Souef, J. A. Leach and G. M. Mathews do not refer the 
