All Rights Reserved. August, 1919. 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE — - 



JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



The Excellent Swainson's Lorikeet. 



By Sir Leo Chiozza Money. 



My greatest avicultural successes have been in the 

 breeding- of (i) Mice, (2) More Mice, (3) Still More Mice, 

 (4) Zebra Finches, and (5) Swainson's Lorikeets. So many of 

 our members have had joyful experiences with the first three 

 items that I will not attempt to dwell upon my own triumphs 

 with the beautiful and prolific species so well-known in our 

 aviaries. Nor is it necessary to say much about the Zebra 

 Finch, who has so much to say for himself. I pass at once, 

 then, to the fifth item in my list, the Swainson's Lorikeet, or 

 Blue Mountain f^ory. and I have pleasure in doing so because 

 I might easily never have made the personal acquaintance of 

 Trichoglossus N ovac-Hollandiae, and think it probable that 

 many of our members have been warned off from keeping it, 

 as I was, unfortunately, for a very long time. The Swainson's 

 Lorikeet is only one of many birds which have been badly 

 libelled by various writers. 



I think it was Mr. Frost who first told me that one could 

 keep the bird in an aviary of growing shrubs without fear of 

 it doing much damage. This proved to be true in my experience, 

 and it is a very great advantage because the drawback to 

 keeping parrakeets is that, beautiful as they are, they have 

 necessarily to be kept amidst arid surroundings because they 

 make short work of vegetation. The Blue Mountain Lory in 

 an aviary of moderate dimensions does so' little damage to 

 shrubs that they remain a beautiful background for one of the 

 gayest of birds. To see a pair of Swainson's Lorikeets with 



