Vol. ^xv.-'i From Magazines, <.^c, 149 



was a neatly woven bird's nest with lour eggs in it. It seems a 

 miracle that a bird should select a communication trench in which 

 to breed its young. 1 will look on this novelty with a great deal 

 of interest, and watch the result closely." 



Pale-headed Parrots. — In the Ai)ril, 1915, issue of the Avi- 

 cultitrul Magazine the Marquis of Tavistock writes of " Some 

 Experiences of Mealy Rosellas." Following is an extract from this 

 interesting article : — 



" The popular name of Platycercus -pallidiceps is undoubtedly 

 open to objection, since the word ' Rosella ' is nothing more than 

 a meaningless corruption of Rose-hill, a place which the bird in 

 question does not, I beheve, frequent. Still, if one were to 

 mention a ' Pale-headed Parrakeet,' I doubt if nine aviculturists 

 out of ten would be much the wiser : so perhaps it is best after 

 all to stick to the famihar title. Some people are disposed to 

 crab the Mealy Rosella on account of the rather washy and 

 undecided tints of his- head and neck, but to my mind he is a very 

 lovely bird — what Broadtail, indeed, is not ? — and few more 

 tasteful combinations of colour exist than the primrose and blue 

 which adorn the greater part of his plumage. His disposition, 

 alas ! does not correspond to the beauty of his outward appear- 

 ance ; in fact, when fully adult and in good health, he can only 

 be described as a spiteful brute. His two pet aversions are the 

 Blue-bonnet and his near relative the Red Rosella. Alone among 

 the PlatycercincB he is often able to inspire with fear and respect 

 the pert, irascible little monkey in brown and blue, while for the 

 Red Rosella he shows a most unbounded contempt. Hybrids 

 between P. pallidiceps and P eximitis have been produced in 

 captivity, and may also have occurred wild in Australia, but in 

 my own experience I have never known the two species show any 

 desire to associate except when quite young. Even when I have 

 had odd birds of opposite sexes flying together at liberty for 

 several months, they have never been seen to meet except on the 

 most unfriendly terms. . . . 



" During the course of last summer, two new Mealies came into 

 my possession — both, unfortunately, to die after a few weeks — 

 which were interesting from a scientific point of view, and showed 

 curious variations of plumage. The first, a hen, had the crown 

 of the head thickly covered with strawberry-pink feathers, and 

 showed, besides, an unusual amount of blue on the cheeks and 

 on the upper part of the neck. A tendency to erythrism, it may be 

 noted, is characteristic of several species of Australian Parrakeets, 

 individual Browns, Rosellas. Yellow-bellies, and Many-colours 

 often showing an abnormal amount of red in their plumage. The 

 case of the Red- vented Blue-bonnet is very similar, and personally 

 I do not consider Psephotus hcematorrhous as really a good species. 

 The second bird I received was a typical P. amathusia, the first 

 1 have ever seen alive. He was much paler in ccjlour than the 



