174 7^^'^ Excellent S':cai}iso}rs Lorikeet. 



their two yonti.ij' j4anil)ollinj4' in an aviriry of i)ri\'et and lain'el. 

 furnished with a few tree perches to ena])le tliem to (hsi)lay 

 themselves, is a si^ltt not easily to be fort^'otten. 



I have said that tlie Swainson is .i^ay ; it is a word which 

 well describes its colouring. The critic who compared it to a 

 Berlin wool mat ouL^ht to be bitten by a Macaw otit of temper. 

 The coloiirinL;- is variei^"ated, it is true, l)ut there are not so many 

 brii^"ht thins^"s in this world that one can afford to despise the 

 bine and ^reen and red and yellow and i)nrple of a Blue 

 Mountain Lory. 



The head is striated blue mer.^ing into blackish i^^reen at 

 the front of the neck, with a band of yellowish-g'reen on the 

 nape. The back, winj^s, and tail are vivid screen, possessing 

 a bright gloss. The breast is crossed by a band of cadmium 

 yellow, blazed with brilliant scarlet vermilion, the amount of 

 the blazing varying greatly in different examples. The males, 

 I think, are usually redder than the females, but I am not sure 

 of this. The belly has blue imposed on scarlet in such a way 

 as to produce an effect of purple. The under tail coverts are 

 yellow, and there is a yellow band under the wings. The 

 tail is somewhat pointed. The beak is vermilion with an orange 

 tip. The eye is black, the iris ringed with bright red. All 

 the colours are brilliant and remain so throughout the year, the 

 moult being almost imperceptible. 



In the young the colouring is almost the same as in the 

 adult, but it is less vivid. The babies are just small copies of 

 their handsome parents, and in two matters 1 like them better. 

 These are that the eye lacks the red ring, which makes their 

 expression much gentler, and that the beak is blackish red. 



The habits of the Lorikeet make it an exceedingly 

 attractive feature in a garden aviary. It is exceedingly playful 

 and intelligent, and talks quite plainly in a language of its own. 

 wdiich is really much better, if you come to think of it, than if 

 it talked bits of English which it did not understand. For my 

 part. I would rather hear my Swainson 's Lorikeet answer me 

 in his own tongue like a dog when I call his name than I would 

 hear him tell me in English that it was a nice mornin;/ when it 



