236 Bird-keeping. 



logical Gardens, and they are constantly bred in garden 

 aviaries. They are very fond of lettuce and other 

 green food. 



One of the prettiest and best known of the Grass 

 Parrakeets is the Melopsittacus undulatus, the WARB- 

 LING GRASS PARRAKEET called also the "Zebra" or 

 " Canary " Parrakeet, and by the aborigines " Btidgeri- 

 gar" or " Budgeree-gar" budgeree meaning "pretty" 

 or " good." This bird has a bright yellow forehead, 

 and the head, neck, and upper part of the body are 

 green, each feather being marked with a crescent- 

 shaped spot of brown -black near the tip, small on 

 those of the head, and increasing in size on the back. 

 From these markings it is sometimes called the "Shell" 

 or " Scallop Parrot." On each cheek are three or four 

 spots of deep blue. The wings are green and yellow, 

 scalloped with black. The central tail-feathers are blue, 

 and the rest yellowish-green ; the lower part of the 

 body is light grass green. The hen is exactly like the 

 cock, except that the latter has the cere of the nostrils 

 bluish, and those of the hen are brown. Mr. Gould 

 first saw these birds in 1839 m flocks of hundreds on 

 the Liverpool Plains, and drinking at the pools in the 

 early morning and evening; their nests were in the 

 hollow spouts of the large eucalypti. They are now 

 becoming common in England, many thousands being 

 brought over at a time. Some were flying about in 

 the Temple Gardens for a long time, which had escaped 



