290



Mr. Reginald Philupps,



tralian Scrub. Their craving for water and the squeal of the

female may be especially noticed:—


“ I am forwarding a skin of a Lorikeet (female) obtained

on the river here, where during the past month it has been

numerous, feeding on the honey of the bauhinia blossoms and

the river gums. Never saw it on the ground except when down

at water. It apparently lives almost entirely on honey. One

we caught, and which has taken very kindly to captivity, is

reported never to eat seed, but to subsist on sugar and water,

with perhaps now and again a small portion of bread soaked in

sugar and water. I examined three specimens recently that

suicided in a well. They were all females, and, like the one I

skinned, contained in their ovaries only very minute eggs The

bird sent fell into the sheep water-trough. I rescued it (only to

make a specimen), when it squealed so vigorously that in an

instant I was standing in a cloud of the Parrots, which settled on

my arms, hands, shoulders, and hat till they weighed down the

broad felt brim of the latter, almost to shut out my sight. There

must have been two or three dozen on me. It was a wonder¬

fully pretty sight, and I should much have liked to have caught

the picture with a camera.— Fred L. Berney. Richmond

(N.Q.), 2/11/02.”


The reference to water reminds me that my birds, or one

of them, take a bath very nearly every warm morning before I

come down to breakfast. I notice that they come freely to the

bottom of their cage when no one is near, not only for the water-

dish on the floor but also for remnants of sultanas that have been

dropped, and any other food on the ground. Immediately, how¬

ever, they observe any one approaching, they hurriedly scuttle

up to the perches. Doubtless naturally they would prefer taking

their bath in the wet leaves of trees after rain ; but drought and

captivity upset the private arrangements even of Varied Lori¬

keets.


Most of the different kinds of food are in dishes hung up

inside the cage. Mr. Setli-Smith has told us about the food

suitable for these and other Lorikeets. With the milk and grapes

I likewise give dry crumbled biscuit, sweet but plain, of which



