^°mf' ■] CmSHOLM. The -Lost" Paradise Parrot. 9 



Parrot. On Decenil)er 11th last. Mr. C. H. H. Jerrard, a keen 

 naturalist and capable jihotographer. wrote from the liurnett 

 country to say that he had seen a ]»air of Parrots which he was 

 almost sure were Pscpliotus pulcherrimus. A description which 

 he supplied, and which fitted the species, was made out as the 

 birds perched in a tree, but for portion of the time when watched 

 they were on the ground. Less than a week later Mr. Jerrard 

 became sure of his birds, having his opinion reinforced by a 

 neighbour who had kept the "Ground Parrots" in captivity years 

 before. Moreover, on December 15th he was fortunate enough 

 to see what he took to be the same })air of birds with a group 

 of young ones. There were seven or eight Parrots in all, and 

 in the cases of five or six of them the centre only of the abdomen 

 was red and the breast was greyish, instead of green and blue. 

 At least one was seen to be fed by a ])arent bird. All were 

 feeding on grass seeds, which they obtamed by running the 

 stalks through the bill. 



Here, at -last, was a re])ort that was not only definite, but was 

 one that came from withm reasonable distance of Brisbane,! 

 and, moreover, was made by a man who was competent to fol- 

 low it up. His attention having been directed to the termites' 

 mounds, Mr. Jerrard soon found holes suggesting the breeding- 

 hollows of the Parrots. In more than one case there were signs 

 that nesting operations had been commenced and then left off. 

 But the year drew to its end without any discovery of an actual 

 nest, and the scant literature on the subject having given Sep- 

 tember-December as the breeding period, there remained but little 

 hope of a i)air of the beautiful birds being studied "at home" 

 for many months. Queensland birds, however, swayed by a 

 wilful climate, are not as other birds are in the matter of breed- 

 ing seasons. So, it was not altogether surprising that the patient 

 watcher was able to report, on January 21st, 1922, that a pair 

 of the Parrots had recommenced work on a hollow that had pre- 

 viously been visited. On that date Mr. Jerrard watched the 

 mound for two hours, but was chary of investigating closely. 

 He saw the male bird pay one visit of inspection, without actu- 

 ally entering the hollow, the female being in the vicinity at the 

 same time. That caution of the observer was wise. Subsecjuent 

 observations made it clear that eggs were not laid in January, 

 for it was not until March 4th last that Mr. Jerrard was able 

 to report with certainty that the female Parrot was brooding 

 eggs. 



From this point on the watcher waxed keener than ever in 

 his fraternal spying upon the rare and lovely Parrots. Work- 

 ing with care, he erected a rough hessian shelter in front of the 

 exposed little hillock that afforded the birds a home (see Plate), 



t It will be sufficient to say that the spot is about 150 miles north of 

 the capital city, and not far from the point where Professor Richard 

 Semon, of Jena, saw specimens of the species in 1891. 



