NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 65- 



Observafion.i. — Gould much regretted he was unable to give more than 

 a brief notice of this beautiful aud truly " Splendid " Grass Parrakeet. 

 We arc not much better off to-day. I supjKJse it is no wonder, because 

 this bird has been characterised as very shv in disposition and nowhere 

 numerous. 



527. — Nanodes discolor, Shaw. — (433) 

 SWIFT LORIKEET. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v., pi. 47. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. x.\., p. 592. 

 Previous Desrriftions of Eggs. — Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1S53); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 266 (1889). 



Geographical Distribution. — South Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. 



Xe-H. — Within a hole, usually in a dead branch of a tree. 



Egg.'i. — Clutch, two to three on the mainland, in Tasmania stated 

 to be four to six ; roimdish in form ; textme of shell fine ; surface 

 with or without gloss; colour, white, usually stained with the wood 

 dust of the nest. Dimensions in inches of a clutch : (1) -98 x -79, 

 (2) -96 X -8, (3) -93 x -78. 



Ohxervafifiiis. — The plumige of the Swift Lorikeet (upper and under) 

 is green, with deep blue on the forehead and wing edges, relieved with 

 scarlet on the face, shoulder, and underneath the wings. Taken alto- 

 gether it is an elegant species, about ten inches in length. 



As Gould remarks, this fine Lorikeet is a migratory, or rather, it 

 should be stated, a nomadic .species, passing the summer and breechng 

 season in its more southern or rather south-eastern part of the Avis- 

 tralian Continent and Tasmania. The species has not been recorded 

 farther north than South Queensland. 



The late Mr. T. A. Forbes-Leith says a few of these Pan-ots may 

 be met with throughout Victoria at all seasons. 



During September and the four following months, Gould found the 

 Swift Lorikeet not only abundant in the giun forests of Tasmania, 

 but common in the gardens of Hobart, where, within a few feet of the 

 heads of the passing inhabitants, the birds were feeding upon the 

 honey of the fresh-blown eucalypt flowers. Some of the birds had so 

 surfeited themselves with the saccharine matter, that on being shot 

 and held up by the feet, the liquid discharged itself from their mouths. 



How is it, then, that this bird is not classed by recent authorities 

 mth the honey-eating PaiTots — Lorikeets ? Pei-haps it is because the 

 Swift Lorikeet is not entirely a honey-eating bird. Mr. C. French, jun., 

 brought under my notice one of these birds, shot in the Botanical 

 Gardens (3rd October, 1896), wliich had a crop full of the larvae of a 

 certain insect. 



