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Victorian Pardalotes 153 1961 December J CHANDLER, Victorian Pardalotes 153 1961 - evident. Although Jacking the black and gold of the male, the female Regent bird is extremely handsome. On one occasion I watched her and the immature birds feeding on the flowers of a clump of pencil-orchids which were growing on a Satin-ash. Within ten minutes they had stripped every bloom from about 30 or 40 orchids. Another highlight of this year's Noosa holiday was the sighting, again in the company of Barbara and Arthur Salter, of a pair of Beach Stone-curlews ( Orthorhamphus magnirostris) on the island just inside the mouth of the Noosa River. There is little doubt that this would be the pair sighted during the 1958 R .A.O .U. Camp-out and which had their egg washed away by a king-tide. They were again seen in the same place on the island but there was little sign of nesting activity; probably it was too early. Some excellent views of the birds were obtained and the most noticeable points were the large size, the heavy bill, the eye-streak and bar on the wing and the bobbing motion when agitated. When first seen the birds reminded me strongly of a small bustard in gait and general appearance. Since the submission of this paper, advice has been received from Mrs. Essie Green, that a Noisy Pitta in Noosa National Park had been killed by a cat. This bird was probably the " tame" one observed by Mr. Peddie. It is to be hoped that its mate will manage to find another partner, or the Noisy Pitta may indeed disappear from this delightful Park. Victorian Pardalotes By L. G . CHANDLER, Red Cliffs, Victoria The changing of the names of birds through the so-called law of priority, or, occasionally, by the re-examination of a type speci­ men held in a museum, makes the study of birds rather confusing for the student of ornithology. The reading of old literature on the subject in check-lists, books, scientific or popular magazines and newspapers will give the beginner in the study of ornithology many headaches before he would be able to finally work out the correct name for some species. However, the lively little Pardalotes of the treetops, of which five species are found in Victoria - two of them spotted and three striated - go their way quite unworried by the ink that has been spilt about them. I would write here of their charm, and register a hope that their names will not undergo another change before this article is in print. Several of the species are known by the local name of Diamond­ bird, and in Leach's first edition of An Australian Bird Book they are called Diamond-birds. In the latest edition, edited by P . Crosbie Morrison, the name Pardalote is substituted. To make it more confusing two of the birds are listed under the scientific name of Pardalotus 'Omatus. The common name now recognised fo r one - species, the Striated Pardalote, was the Red-tipped in the book. 154 CHANDLER, Victorian Pardalotes [ Bird Watcher The bird now known as the Yellow-tipped - one of its original names - was called the Striated Pardaloi:e in the new edition. The range of the three Pardalotes with striated feathers on the head extends far beyond Victoria, and in many places they overlap. These are the Striated, the Eastern Striated and the Yellow-tipped Pardalotes. The Yellow-tipped is the only one of the trio that is found in Tasmania. Its range also extends along the eastern side of the mainland to south-east Queensland. The Striated Pardalote is distributed over most of Australia, while the Eastern Striated species seems to be confined, as the name suggests, to the eastern areas. It is interesting to note that the Striated and the Eastern Striated Pardalotes have been found interbreeding on numerous occasions. Mr. Roy P. Cooper (The Emu, Vol. 61 : pp. 1-6) femnd that of 24 nests that he had under observation in the Maryborough, Vic­ toria, district during November and December, 1959, almost 30 per cent were occupied by an interbreeding pair of birds. Other observers have also noticed this habit and I have a record of the mating of the two species - my only one- as far back as 1909. Since then I have been living in a district where I have not seen the two species together. T he Striated Pardalote is common in the north-west of Victoria although it is becoming rarer each year. When walking through the bush the call note "will-ju" or "wit-e-loo" is often heard. The birds feed largely in the tree-tops and the " tap, tap" of their beaks on the leaves can be heard clearly on a still day. They feed largely on scale insects but all manner of small insects and spiders are added to the bill of fare, as I have noticed when food is brought to the young in a nest. On rare occasions I have seen dozens of these birds in the Red Cliffs district feeding on the ground. It might have been that heavy wind or rain had dislodged some of their normal food supply from the trees. Being accustomed to seeing the birds feeding in the trees it was delightful to watch the dainty sprites at close quarters, hop­ ping about on the ground. The nest of the Striated Pardalote is a semi-domed structure and built of rootlets, grass or bark in a hollow or spout of a tree, or sometimes in a hole in a bank. The nesting site varies from 3 to 25 feet from the ground. The Eastern Striated Pardalote is similar in habits and appearance to the Striated. T he main difference is in the white feathers in the wings. The latter has a broad white patch on the primary feathers and the former a narrow line of white. The Eastern Striated birds seem to favour the banks and creeks to tunnel into to build their nests, but in some areas tree-hollows are readily used. My memories of this species are vivid and pleasant It has an engaging habit of spreading its wings and uttering a soft trilling note if it is disturbed by an observer when it is perched near its nest. They are good subjects for a camera and my first bird photograph was this Pardalote. Going to and from Dr.r.ember J CHANDLER, Victorian Pardalotes 155 1961 - 00 c: "' "'c: 156 ROBINSON, Feeding of Fairy Prions [ Bird Watcher the nest the birds perched on my tripod but I was soon to Jearn that many native birds are not so obliging. With the Yellow-tipped Pardalote we have a distinct species that can be easily recognised, at close quarters, by the small yellow mark on the wings not far from the shoulders. In the tree-tops it is difficult, without the aid of powerful glasses, to distinguish it from the other two species. In habits it is very similar to them also, but I have no records of it interbreeding with them. Without doubt the two spotted species are the most beautiful of the Victorian group of Pardalotes. The Spotted Pardalote is found in the southern, central and eastern portions of Victoria, and also in Tasmania, south-west Australia and through to southern Queens­ land. In my early bird observing days I found numerous nests of the Spotted Pardalote in the banks of Cardinia Creek, Beaconsfield, Victoria. It was a pretty sight to see the little bird pop out of its nesting tunnel through a doorway of maiden-hair fern, while in the flowering silver wattles and gum saplings a few score of Bell­ Miners tinkled their clear bell-like notes incessantly. When I hear a Spotted Pardalote calling now, in fancy, I smell the perfume of wattle and maiden-hair fern, and hear the creek rippling as an undertone to the music of the Bell-Miners. The soft notes of the Spotted Pardalote, which resemble "sleep baby", can often be heard in the tree-tops. I think that the call may be given by both sexes in conjunction, the "baby" being the answering note. Last of all is the Yellow-tailed Pardalote of the Mallee scrubs. It makes a tunnel in the sandy soil and in an enlarged chamber at the end builds its nest. All the Pardalotes lay white eggs and this applies to most birds that nest in hollows. In the dwarf mallee scrub it is an unforgettable sight to come upon one of these beautiful birds feeding on scale insects on the leaves of the gums. It will sometimes allow an observer to approach closely, and in the strong sunlight its lovely colours are seen to advantage. The Feeding of Fairy Prions By LEN N. ROBINSON, Murrumbeena, Victoria Following the rough weather across southern Victoria, a visit was made to Sorrento on July 9, 1961, when it was noticed that numbers of sea-birds had entered Port Phillip Bay (The Bird Observer, August, 1961) . Amongst those birds seen were many hundreds of Fairy Prions (Pachyptila turtur) which were frequently observed to alight on the water and feed on what the observers thought would be plankton. On returning to the Sorrento pier, after spending several hours "sea-bird watching" just inside Port Phillip Heads, a small party of about 40 Prions was observed feeding close to the pier. After disembarking, the four observers sat on the pier for about 30 .
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