APPENDIX. 551 



was much interested with many of its actions, which were so 

 different from those of every other member of its family, that J 

 felt convinced they were equally different and curious in a 

 state of nature. This bird was not confined to a cage, but 

 permitted to range over the house, along the floors of which 

 it passed, not with the awkward waddling gait of a Parrot 

 but in a succession of leaps, precisely after the manner of the 

 CorvidcB. Mrs. Anderson, to whom T am indebted for the little 

 I could learn respecting it, informed me that it was found 

 among the rocks and upon the foftiest trees of Philip Island, that 

 it was so tame as to be readily taken alive with a noose, and 

 that it fed upon the blossoms of the white-wood tree, or white 

 Hibiscus, sucking the honey of the flowers : the mention of 

 this latter circumstance induced me to examine the tongue of 

 the bird, which presented a very peculiar structure, not, like 

 that of the true honey-feeding Parrakeets (the Trichoc/lossi) , 

 furnished with a brush-like termination, but with a narrow 

 horny scoop on the under side, which, together with the ex- 

 tremity of the tongue, resembled the end of a finger with the 

 nail beneath instead of above : this peculiarity in the struc- 

 ture of the organ is doubtless indicative of a corresponding pe- 

 culiarity in the nature of the food upon which the bird sub- 

 sists. Mrs. Anderson told me that it lays four eggs in the 

 hollow part of a tree, but beyond this I was unable to ascer- 

 tain anything respecting its nidification. I may mention that 

 I once saw a living example of the bird in England. It was 

 in the possession of Sir. J. P. MiUbank, Bart., who informed 

 me that it evinced a strong partiality to the leaves of the com- 

 mon lettuce and other soft vegetables, and that it was also 

 very fond of the juice of fruits, of cream and butter. 



It would appear from the numerous specimens I have ex- 

 amined that the sexes scarcely differ from each other in colour; 

 the young, on the contrary, have but little of the rich yellow 

 and red markings of the breast, that part being olive- brown 

 like the back. 



