2i6 The Blue Mountain Lorikeet. 



a wild liird, wliirli was rapluri'd. ( )ii arcdUiil nl its hrilliaiil ]ilunia,i;e it was 

 called •• Kcddx " and. aftrr lii'in,i;- feasted on suijar and oIIkt dainties lor 

 alioul six months, was set at liberty a.yain." 



•• Reddv," mindful of '• liome eoiufoils " (,re;isionall\ rt'lurned willi a 

 mate, and suhseiiuentlv with \oiin.L; ones, all of which Mr. ( .ardiner contin- 

 ued to feed with su.^ar and water. 'I'lien. ,is if imiiosinj.;- on good natures, 

 scores of l)irds came, and finally hundri-ds at a time I Sncli a screeching- and 

 scoldinj,--— an awful noise — esi)eciall\ at early morn. If aiiythin.<;. the birds 

 were thickest about 4 o'clock in the .afternoon. I'.ut birds were always 

 about, pi'fchin.i;- on the wire, under the verandah, or were bathin.q'. The 

 birds became so common that even the cat treated them vvitli contempt. 

 To feed this most iiUeresting- feathered family it cost \\v. Gardiner, for 

 seven vears. the v.alue of five bays of suiL,Mr per year." 



" When .Mr. ( iardiner was readinj.;- or reclinius;-, numbers of his leath- 

 ered friends would climli all over hiiu. and were fond of running- his hair 

 through their bills, liut, strange to say. the birds would i-iot alight on his 

 man or his man's wife, although Ijoth Used to feed the liirds in Mr. Gard- 

 iner's al)sence. Often when Mr. Gardiner was returning home tiocks of 

 hungry fluttering Lorikeets would meet hiiu at the slip-pannel, 100 yards 

 away from the house." 



" We took eggs on tlie table-land of 7". scptcutio)ialis, whicli ap])ears to 

 be a good northern variety of the " I'due .Mountain " Parrot of southern 

 l)arts. it is a pretty sight to witness these birds bathing amoug the Ijranchcs 

 that hold the niiii or the copious dewdrops of the night. How- they flutter 

 their wings and revel in the exercise I" 



With the help of Seth-Smith'.s heautifnlly iUustfated book- 

 on Parrakeets one '^an easily visualize the above depicted scene. 

 The flutterin!^- crowd of perhaps the most brightly coloured birds 

 in the world round Mr. Gardiner as he fed his feathered friends 

 in the brilliant sunshine of North Queensland, must indeed have 

 1) cii a si.Mii' for ilie gods, for 1 tliink the Lorikeets are easily 

 gi\en the first place as regards variety of colour in the large and 

 varied family of Parrots. 



W. H. WORKMAN. M.B.O.U. 



^ ♦^M-^ 



The Nesting of the Fieldfare, etc. 



By W. .'^iioKK Bailv. 

 There arc two birds on the British List that I ha\e always 

 had an aml)ition to breed. These are the Fieldfare and the 

 Redwing. Neither bird has, I believe, been bred in England in 

 captivity, and it is very doubtful whether the former bird has 

 acne so in the wild state, and I think that there are very ley 



