288



Mr. Reginald Phillipps,



Very shortly after their arrival, Mr. Goodchild made a

water colour drawing of them as they were then, and a glance at

our illustration will enable our readers to see the plumage of the

mature and of the immature birds ; some of the other specimens

shewed intermediate stages between these two feathers, so that

probably it takes at least three years before the fully adult

plumage is attained.


The male has moulted since my pair were painted, and

his crown is now more brilliant than that of his fellow; he has

not so much of the plum colour about the breast nor is it of so

deep a shade, but he has more blue about the face, and the

yellow ear-coverts are more yellow, and more sharply defined

and conspicuous. There is a difference too in the curve of the

upper mandible, and the female has a black line along the basal

third of the culmen. Some time ago, however, she darted out of

her cage and dashed against the window, so these two differences

may be due to accident. He is now the larger bird of the two.


My male is a very healthy satisfactory bird, tame and

inclined to be friendly, and repeatedly utters his little warbling

“song”; but unfortunately I have not the time to respond to

his advances. The female, on the contrary, from the first has

not been so good, and is shy and nervous ; and for many weeks

she would utter wild shrieks every time I put my hand into the

cage for cleansing purposes, especially when I attempted to clean

the perches. The male has the common little dance of the

smaller Lorikeets. Moreover, since they have been in a large

cage, the male may frequently be seen on the watch—stiff and

straight as a bit of wood, head down and tail up at an angle of

about 45 degrees. Sometimes he slightly varies this position by

sitting (quite naturally and easily) as it were on the side of the

perch instead of on the top, the head being straight down, the

tail pointing to the skies, in which position he will remain

perfectly stiff and still for 40—60 seconds.


Mr. Goodchild, who, whilst painting them, had more time

to watch them than I have j^et been able to spare, quite agreed

with me as to the sexes.


As this species is not well known to English Aviculturists,



