THE GEELONG 'NATURALIST. $2 
PARDALOTUS PUNCTATUS (Shaw). 
SPOTTED DIAMOND BIRD. j 
Ficure.—Gould: Bds. of Aust., fol., Vol. II, pl. 35. 
REFERENCE: — Cat. Bds., Brit. Mus., Vol. X, p. 58. 
Previous Desrscriprions or  EcGcs.—Gould; Bds. of 
Aust. (1848); also, Hdbk., Vol. I, p. 158, (1865). Ramsay: 
“Tbis,” Vol. IV, New Series (1868). . North: Cat. Nests 
and Eggs, Aust. Mus., p. 49 (1889). | 
GEOGRAPHICAL DIsTRIBUTION.—Queensland;, New South 
Wales, Victoria, South and West Australia, and Tasmania, 
including some of the intermediate islands. à; 
Nesr.—Spherical in shape, outwardly about four or five 
inches in diameter by two and a half inches inside, with a 
small side entrance, constructed of soft strips and shreds of the 
inner bark of eucalypts, and lined inside with finer shreds of the 
same material, and sometimes with grass and feathers, and 
situated underground in a bank, or in.the side of any con- 
venient hole in the forest. The birds first drive a small . 
tunnel from a foot to three feet in length in a slightly upward 
direction, and then excavate a chamber to accommodate the 
nest. J 1 
Eccs.—Clutch, 4, sometimes 5, somewhat round in shape, 
texture of shell very fine, pure white with a slight trace of 
gloss on the surface. ye 
Dimensions in inches of a full set taken near Oakleigh, 
3oth October, 1886—(1) 0.66 x 0.52; (2) 0.64 x 0.51; (3) 
0.61 x 0.51; (4) 0.63 x 0.52. 
OBSERVATIONS.—The Spotted Diamond Bird with its 
pretty, neat, little figure is the most familiar of its kind to us. 
The bird is distributed generally over Australia from east 
to west, and from Tasmania in the south to Rockingham 
Bay district in Northern Queensland. 
‘The wonderfully wrought underground nests of the Spotted 
Diamond Bird with the entrances frequently artfully hidden 
by overhanging vegetation, roots, &c., [have found in eastern 
forested parts as well as under the shade of the Beautiful Leafed 
Eucalypts of the west. I have also found them in the loose 
friable sand in an abrupt bank near the sea shore such as at 
Western Port, Victoria, where the birds were burrowing in 
numbers in October, 1880. j 
As has been remarked, it is truly wonderful how the little 
builder can construct so comfortable a home at the termin- 
ation of a hole where all possible daylight is excluded. Both 
male and female assist in the drilling operations and con- 
à 
