THE LORIES. 167 
rolling about and playfully biting their owner’s 
fingers. 
If kept in a cage, therefore, this should be as large as 
possible ; and the bird should be let out to have its bath, 
of which it is very fond. Fits are the chief cause of 
death among these birds, and plenty of exercise the best 
preventive. No sour food should be given under any 
circumstances. On the whole a big aviary where other 
strong soft food-eaters are kept is the best place for 
Lories. Many species are imported into India, but here 
we can only notice two, both of the green-backed 
sharp-tailed group known as Lorikeets or Loriquets. 
The tiny short-tailed Bat-Parrots (Loriculus) are called 
Loriquets in the Fauna of British India ; but this is not 
correct, as the birds, although feeding in the same way, 
have not brush-tongues, and do not belong to the Lory 
family. Moreover, since a Parrot with a sharp tail is 
called a Parakeet, the corresponding term Lorikeet 
ought surely to be restricted to the sharp-tailed Lories. 
The term Bat-Parrot is also an excellent name for the 
Loriculi, as these birds are unique in sleeping hung up 
by one foot, like the Bats among beasts. 
Forsten’s Lorikeet (Trichoglossus forsteni).* This 
species, a native of the island of Sumbawa, was, in my 
time, about the most numerously imported Lory in 
Calcutta. The figure (Fig. 1) and brief description on 
Plate VII will give a sufficient idea of it; a band across 
the belly is purple as well as the head, and the pale collar 
is of a light shade of green. Cock and hen are alike, 
and the young are, I believe, similar. This handsome 
