THE FLAT'TAILED PARRAKEETS. 241 



ear, is white ; the under part of the breast deep yellow ; 

 the sides of the breast yellow, each feather having a blackish 

 spot in the centre ; the middle of the belly and the hinder 

 part of the body bluish-green ; the under coverts of the tail 

 red ; the beak a whitish yellow-grey ; the upper mandible 

 a rather darker horn-grey at the base ; eyes dark-brown ; feet 

 grey-brown ; claws blackish. The female may be similarly 

 described, but the yellow spot on the nape of the neck is 

 smaller : the middle of the belly and the hinder part of the 

 body yellowish, not bluish-green. (According to Bargheer, the 

 male is more purely and brilliantly coloured ; the light green 

 spot round the eye is larger, and protracted sideways in the 

 female ; in the latter also the sulphur-yellow spot on the back 

 of the neck is wanting, and its place is supplied by the greenish 

 colouring of the back ; the female also is said to be slimmer and 

 her head more rounded ; the male stout in the body and thick 

 in the head.) The plumage of the young birds is paler and 

 duller, each feather edged with greyish-green, not with yellow ; 

 on the back of the head there is a large grey spot, and on 

 the nape a yellow one. Size, less than that of a crow (length, 

 13|in. ; wings, 5|in. to 6|in. ; longest feather in the tail, 

 6|in. to 6|in. ; outermost feather of the tail, ojin. to 3-^in.). 



It is a native of Tasmania, New South Wales, and South 

 Australia. Its mode of life has been observed by Caley, 

 Gould, Eietmann, &c. According to their observation, it 

 is only found in circumscribed districts ; along the Hunter 

 Eiver and in Tasmania it is very numerous. It prefers open, 

 sandy, grass plains, with brushwood and large trees standing 

 singly. In the last-named country different variegated parra- 

 keets may be seen in company — the Pennant and the King's 

 Parrakeet, besides the Rosella — but mostly in small flocks, 

 running about on the roads, and, when frightened, flying up on 

 the fences which mark the divisions of the land. They are so 

 tame that one could almost knock them over with a stick. The 

 food of the Eosella consists chiefly of seeds, but also of insects. 

 Their voice is not shrill and piercing, but of a pleasant piping 

 kind. The breeding season falls between October and January, 

 and the brood sometimes consists of as many as eleven, but 

 usually of five or six. The nest is built in the hollow of 

 a tree, often far down inside the trunk, but easily accessible 

 to this parrakeet, which is particularly clever in climbing. 

 Since these parrakeets attack the ripening maize and other 



