IKICIKKiLOShllS. 41 



Australia, occurring near Adelaide, in South Australia, and as far north as Cairns in Queensland. 

 Specimens from the latter locality are sli^^htly smaller and have the feathers of the head of a 

 bri,t,'hter blue than examples obtained near Sydney. 



individual \ariation exists in this species, some adult specimens ha\in;4 the upper parts of 

 a uniform ;-;reen, others having' the bases of some of the feathers on the liack yellow or red, or 

 an admixture of the two colours. One mounted specimen in the Australian Museum collection, 

 lias the feathers on the sides of the nape and the ear-coverts yellowish-red. 



In New South Wales, when there is an abundame of luicalypts in blossom, these birds are 

 in some seasons extremely plentiful, but they are far less numerous of late m the nei.ghbourhood 

 of Sydney than they were ten or fifteen years atjo. .\t Blacktown they used to be very common, 

 and were usually found feeding in company with Glonii/^siltdi ns iiiiinniiu^ and (r. pii^illin:. Snaring 

 " Irilueys," as they were locally called by boys in the western suburbs of Sydney, was a favourite 

 pastime from about the beginning of January until the end of April. Numbers used to be 

 brought into the Sydney bird-dealers sh(jps, but they are now seldom to be seen. M. Octave 

 Le Bon informed me that this birtl li\es very well in confmement, if it is a dry season and there 

 is a dearth of Eucalypti in blossom, for then they take readily to a seed diet and thrive well. If, 

 however, there is an abundance of their usual food, they have to be gradually broken into 

 subsisting on seed, by feeding them on sugar and oatmeal, lVc, and are not then worth the 

 trouble of keeping with a view to future sale in Europe or elsewhere. These birds are incorrigible 

 fruit eaters, and do much damage in orchards, especially with the soft summer fruits. 



Their shrill shrieking notes are usually uttered while on the wing, or passmg from one tree 

 to another. The flight is rapid and uncertain: sometimes a flock will Hy direct into a tree at 

 such a speed as if the birds intended to pass between its branches, but will then suddenly alight ; 

 another time they will pass by a tree, and with a graceful curve return and slowly settle in it. 

 What a sight is a " feeding tree" when in blossom at the latter end of May, or early in June, in 

 any of the coastal districts of New South Wales. At Se\en Mills and lilacktown, or between 

 Manly and Narrabeen, there used to be many of them ; the air is perfume laden from the 

 fragrant blossom of the flowering liiud/ypli, and one hears the incessant chatter of several species 

 of Lorikeets, as they nimbly climb and twist and turn in all directions to extract with their 

 hairy and brush-like tongues the nectar from the flowers. In the stomachs of the three 

 common species of Lorikeets found near Sydney, Tn'ihoiilossns uoVir-hollandiir, Glossopsittacus 

 (oncinnus and G. pnsillns, I have often found the remains of beetles; some were absolutely crammed 

 with them. 



Mr. Robert Grant has kindly given me the following note :—" While collecting on behalf 

 of the Trustees of the Australian Museum, in i88S-y, in the Cairns and Herberton Districts, 

 North-eastern Queensland, 7 riciioglpssns noviT-hoUandiie was everywhere found to be very numerous. 

 In the main street of Cairns there used to be a large Fig-tree, and these birds could be seen 

 coming and going all day long, and their incessant chattering and screeching used to be almost 

 deafening at times. At Boar Pocket, in the month of September, numbers could be seen clinging 

 to the trimks of trees we used to call ' weeping pines,' which had drooping branches like a 

 willow. These birds were apparently feeding upon a resinous exudation, which seemed to aflfect 

 them, giving them a dazed and stupid look. I have very often seen them lose hold of the trunks 

 of those trees, fall to the ground, roll over, then get on their legs and give their wings a flap or 

 two, and remain there ten or fifteen minutes before they could recover and fly oft" to some other 

 trees. Birds we caught, while thus affected, or shot, were useless as specimens, as their 

 plumage was more or less co\ered with this sticky juice or resinous exudation." 



Under date 31st May, iSSS, Mr. J. A. Boyd writes me from Kipple Creek, Herbert River, 

 North-eastern (Queensland: — " Yesterday I took from a nesting-place a pair of nearly fledged 

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