THK



253



Hvicultural flfcagasme,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCI ETY.



Third Series —VOL. II. —No. 9 .—All rights reserved. JULY, 1911 .



TAME LORIKEETS AT LIBERTY.


By Mrs. Ella M.' Innes.


(Communicated b^ D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S.)


In the Emu for October, 1910, appeared a photograph by

Mr. Cornwall of a number of wild Lorikeets (Trichoglossus novtz-

hollandice) coming to a table to be fed upon syrup by a lady who

had tamed them at her home in Mackay, Queensland. These

Lorikeets have always been great favourites of mine, and the

photograph-and short noth accompanying it interested me so

much that I wrote to Mrs. Innes, the tamer of the birds, and

asked her to be kind enough to supply me with fuller particulars.

I11 reply to my letter she most kindly sent me the excellent

photographs here reproduced, together with the following very

interesting letter.


Dear Sir,—Y our letter of 19th Nov. reached me just as I

was leaving home 011 a visit, so I laid it aside to answer when

I could give leisure to it.


I enclose one or two of my own photos of my birds. They

do not object to my camera in the very slightest, even at close

quarters. I believe my pets are unique in being so thoroughly

tamed, yet left in their free state. When we came to this

country (seventeen years ago), while clearing land for culti¬

vation my husband got two young birds from a fallen tree.

One was a Blue Mountain Parrot and one a Green Leak or fish-

scale Parroquet. He brought them home to me, I reared them

and petted them so that we became very fond of them and they

of 11s. They were devoted to me. If I did not appear at the

breakfast table they very soon came round to my bedroom.



