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< ; ies at heavily when pr ing in a hori
‘ oking underneath the bark of thetree. It flies somewhat heavily ul en proceeding in a horizontal
Woodpecker picking “1 dart with lightning speed from a high perch to a lower one ina
line, but it more often happens that it will dart w1 gs § - 5 a an
rt eae ;
ine, This bird will never fly upwards. When it wishes to shift its position it will hop from
ooo cae ‘oes off to another tree in a downward direction,
-anch to branch until it 1s sufficiently high, and then goes of ao The
peonee Bone Bone’ XU bave never during my residence of twelve years in the Richmond River
om TAINS IS © o Hong. ¢ ae 5 :
native name IS Ong iS ; o, oe : ; rome anno
heard it called by the name of ‘Yass’ The eggs have, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
‘ s . ° f
armer, when clearing his land, told me he had felled a tree

slanting direction.

district, oe |
aine Yne of my friends, a
never been obtamed. On j dees : |
hich had a nest with eggs in. The eggs were white, with spots, but were broken by the fall of the tree, and,
which had a nes gos in. o

; pa » pieces. me years since, when j
having no further interest in the matter, he had not saved the pieces. So y e Wien Wa
c
5

b with some cedar-cutters in October, we discovered a nest in a small tree, the top of which was very
scrub w é coo ee :
A native climbed the tree, but found the nest just completed, with no eggs,

densely covered with creepers. : :
three weeks, when we found that it had been abandoned. We took it

We left the nest undisturbed for
down and I found that it was built of or
with snake-skins, and its diameter was about 9 inches. This bird has on one occasion been taken to
London alive by myself. It lived in the Zoological Gardens for several years.”

Adult male. General colour above velvety black, changing to deep fiery purple when viewed away from
the light; wings black, the coverts deep purple like the back and scapulars, the quills bluish purple at the

sticks and leaves, similar to that of a Thrush. The inside was lined

tip, the inner secondaries shaded with violet and bluish purple ; tail-teathers velvety black, the two centre
feathers burnished steel-green, the next ones on each side glossed with steel-blue near the base; crown of
head burnished coppery green, fringed on the hind neck with metallic steel-blue ; behind the eye, above the
ear-coverts, a longitudinal patch of velvety purple; sides of face, sides of neck, and throat black, shaded
with purple like the back when held away from the light ; from the lower throat a large triangular patch of
burnished steel-green, extending to the fore neck ; breast velvety purple, each feather with a mesial shade
of purplish blue, the plumes of the lower breast edged with olive-green ; the rest of the under surface
entirely of the latter colour with coppery purple bases ; under wing- and tail-coverts black. Total length
11:5 inches, culmen 2, wing 6:2, tail 4'4, tarsus 1°45.

Adult female. General colour above ashy brown ; the head also of this colour, all the feathers narrowly
streaked with buffy white; over the eye a long streak of dull white, forming a distinct eyebrow; lores and
sides of face brown, minutely streaked with buffy white, these streaks being also visible on the sides of the
neck ; cheeks and throat pale ochraceous buff, with whitish shaft-streaks ; rest of under surface ochraceous
buff, mottled with narrow black cross markings of irregular pattern, in the form of bars of different shapes ;
the lower abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts transversely barred with blackish ; under wing-coverts
orange-chestnut, with which colour also the quills are lined on the inner web; upper wing-coverts ashy
brown like the back and scapulars, the greater series and the primaries externally washed with orange-
rufous ; quills brown, externally olivaceous brown, shading into orange-rufous on the edge of the quills; tail
warm brown, slightly shaded with olive and edged with orange-rufous alon

11-2 inches, culmen 2, wing 5°9, tail 4, tarsus 1°45.

g the inner web. ‘Total length

The young male at first resembles the old female, and the process of change by which it gains the adult
plumage is extremely interesting to follow; but so little has been recorded of the seasonal changes of Rifle-
birds that it is difficult to find out how long the male t
full livery of the adult, or whether he mie
plumage.

akes in emerging from the barred plumage into the
more than one year before he changes into the complete

One thing seems to be certain,

viz. that the velvety plumage takes some time to acquire, and it is donned
by means of a double process,

; :
‘ both by moult and by a change of feather. ‘Those plumes on the breast which
are about to vary the pattern are oener: BY . : ® ; 1
Gherereceee ihe pattern are generally plainly perceptible, and the kind of horseshoe marking which
aract LES 2 V lamin aouimicnd eee e . . s , .
€ young male begins to vary in form, breaking up into irregular lines, while the edges of the

: ; , at the same time that the centres become perceptibly lighter. The velvety
green edges are acquired last.

moult, and partially by the darke
The Plate represents a male,

feathers commence to darken
The quills are changed by a simi ae
oo quills “are changed by a similar process, viz. partially by a clean
ning of the feather.

a female, and an immature male, of about the natural size. The figures

are drawn from specimens j > Brit
| ens in the British Museum, from which also the descriptions have been taken.