ex 
ES THE GEELONG NATURALIST. 
its young children, when being fed, chirping between the 
canvas and the slabs. On one occasion, in August, 1877, I 
found a nest with four young in a hole 15 feet up in a living 
eucalypt.” 
Whether Mr. Lau’s descriptive remarks refer to this or 
another Pardalote, I had personal proof of the Red-tipped 
Diamond Bird, which is usually a builder in trees, breeding 
in a:bank of a creek in the Sandhurst district, Victoria, but 
whether the bird drilled the burrow itself, I could not 
ascertain. : 
However, it would appear that the Red-tipped Diamond 
Bird does burrow for itself as in the “ Australian Museum 
Catalogue,” the following remarks (North) prove. In the 
paddocks (Wattagoona Station, near Louth), Mr. E. L. 
Ramsay obtained their nest from the sites usually chosen 
by this bird, the hollow limbs of trees, and on several occasions 
found them breeding in company with Cheramæca leucosternum 
in a hole in the side of a bank of a creek; they prefer, 
however, to tunnel a hole where the earth is harder than the 
site usually chosen by the White-breasted Swallow for its 
nest. When resorting to the bank of a creek, Mr. Ramsay 
informs me the nest is cup-shaped, with a short spout, and is 
composed entirely of wiry rootlets and grasses, neither bark 
or feathers being used as when placed in the hollow limb of a 
tree, and that the burrows of the Diamond Bird can easily be: 
detected from those of the White-breasted Swallow by being 
smaller and rounder." 
We know itis a trait in the character of this Diamond 
Bird, especially in the interior, to occupy the old homes of 
other birds, notably the snug nest of the Fairy Martin. This 
fact was known to Dr. Ramsay long ago, who states, with 
regard to the Striated Diamond Bird, and speaking ofa visit 
to the Bell River in the Molong district :—‘ They took 
possession of their usual,breeding places—a batch of old 
nests of the Fairy Martin (Petrochelidon ariel). These they 
lined with grass and stringybark, making a nest similar to 
that of Pardalotus punctatus. 
** About three weeks after the Pardalotes had taken posses- 
sion of these nests the rightful owners returned, but finding 
the usurpers unwilling to turn out, the Martins contented 
themselves by building new nests, and repairing those that 
had been broken down." $ 
The breeding months are from September to December, 
perhaps including January, during which period probably two 
or more broods are reared. t 
