14 CHISHOLM, The 'Lost" Paradise Parrot. ["^isfS" 



were regular!}- caught by a bird-catcher and dealer then living in 

 Brisbane; and in January of that year his catch included three 

 or four young 'Beautifuls.' They were not nestlings, but had 

 not been long upon the wing, that fact being apparent from the 

 colour of their beaks, which were light yellow or cream coloured. 

 I bought one, a young cock ; he learned to whistle the usual 

 'Pretty Joey,' and at times made attempts to imitate the song of 

 a Canary. He had, however, been tra]>])ed a little too late to 

 make a good artificial whistler, and invariably broke into his 

 native bright little call. Although cpiite friendly, always greet- 

 ing me merrily when I api)roached his cage, he would never sub- 

 mit to the slightest handling, and would often attack the hand of 

 a person attending to his food and water tins. He was a very 

 hardy bird, did well on canary seed, was fond of bird's eye chili 

 and milk thistles, and enjoyed i)erfect health from the day I 

 bought him until nearly thirteen years afterwards, when a wind 

 storm blew his cage down. The fall injured him internally, 

 and he died the next day. 



"If you asked any of the old-time bird dealers about the 

 'Beautiful' Parrot they would not know it," continues Air. 

 Brenan. "They called it the 'Elegant,' which, of course, is quite 

 a different bird.* The man from whom I bought my bird told 

 me that the first lot of 'Beautifuls' (he called them 'Elegants') 

 that he and his brother sent home brought £25 a pair in London. 

 It is to be hoj)ed that this aptly-named little l^arrot has not ac- 

 tually died out. Its length of tail gave it a most graceful ap- 

 pearance, whilst the adult male's variety of colouring was so 

 perfectly blended that it was ex(|uisite as well as brilliant. Fly- 

 ing in the sunlight the BuUen-bullen { Partwrduis har)iardi) takes 

 some beating, but I think the 'P-cautiful' was ahead of it." 



WH.\T CAU.SED THE DECIM ATIOX? 



We come now to an examination of the cause or causes be- 

 hind this tragedy. As to the active agency responsible for the 

 disappearance of the Paradise Parrot, opinions vary. It is 

 reasonable, in the first ])lace, to assume thnt the bird's habit of 

 nesting in the mounds of termites has contributed to its destruc- 

 tion by rendering the brooding bird, eggs, and young jieculiarly 

 open to attacks by natural enemies. Mr. William Gleeson, of 

 Crow's Nest, includes among these Hawks of various kinds and 

 "sand iguanas." The latter factor is condenmed also in the 

 following note from Mr. J. Xash, a kangaroo-shooter of ten 

 years' experience from Nanango north to Mackay and all 

 through the central west. Mr. Xash. as a keen bird-lover, says 

 with sorrow that he has only seen the "Ground Parrot" twice 

 dining the last decade. "I only saw very few of them along 



* Euplirnia elci;ans. 



