THE USEFUL BIRDS OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 271 



One part of a certain section of the class Aves appears to 

 perform services of little direct value to growers, yet indirectly 

 such services, though much underrated, are by no means 

 feeble. I refer to the Parrot tribe, which may be divided 

 into [a) brush tongues, (6) tongues without brush. 



Division {h) has little to be said in its favour that calls for 

 special mention, but that little may be noticed under the two 

 subdivisions — (6 i.). Cockatoos which frequent the agricultural 

 areas, and. are more or less hurtful ; (6 ii.), Cockatoos which 

 frequent the heavy timber adjacent to certain fruit-growing 

 areas, and which are beneficial. 



The division {a), of which certain Lories — the Musky 

 {Glossofsittacus concinnus), Shaw ; the Little {G. fusillus), 

 Shaw ; and the Purple-crowned {G. porphyrocephalus), Dietr. 

 — form the backbone, is of much more interest to us. It is 

 the portion in which are included the great mass of Parrots 

 that visit us annually, and cause so much annoyance and loss 

 in the fruit crops ; but as a counterbalance it is the portion 

 that does an infinite amount of good as scale and coccid 

 eaters. In well-wooded country such birds will be needed to 

 patrol the forests and lightly timbered lands for a century to 

 come. 



The use of the brush tongue possessed by the birds in 

 section (a) is to gather nectar from the " honey-pots " of the 

 eucalypti. When there are no blossoms, the use of the brush 

 tongues is partly discarded, but the birds are so well informed 

 that they know scale-insects contain a large amount of 

 "honey-dew," and for the remainder of the season largely 

 prey upon them. In this respect they differ from section (6), 

 although not radically, as the Rosella has been known to clear 

 many branches of the parasites. 



In support of section {a), generally speaking the greatest 

 of the native bird enemies of the orchardist, I cannot do 

 better than draw attention to a paper by Mr. D. M'Alpine on 



