238 Bird-keeping. 



teen days, and feeds her young, I believe, as Pigeons 

 do, disgorging the food into their mouths. Budgeri- 

 gars, should have a cage four feet long, and twenty 

 inches in height and width, though many have been 

 reared in some smaller cages : they like room to run 

 along the floor. I put mine into my Canaries' large 

 winter cage for a time, and they agreed very well with 

 them, or rather, they never attempted to interfere with 

 them. I have heard of a Grass Parrakeet, however, 

 that was put into a cage with a Canary, and fell upon 

 it and killed it instantly. Groundsel is said to be good 

 for these birds, and lettuce injurious. Mine never 

 touched either, but occasionally ate some bread soaked 

 in milk, with maw-seed sprinkled over it ; and this is, 

 I believe, often given to sickly birds with good effect. 



Some of the small Australian Lories or Lorikeets, 

 the BLUE MOUNTAIN LORY (Tric/ioglossus Swainsonii) 

 and a few other species, have been lately imported into 

 England. They are all honey-eaters, and have brush- 

 like tongues, with which to collect the nectar from the 

 flowers of the eucalypti, on which they chiefly live. 

 They should therefore be supplied daily with soft food 

 freshly made (soaked bread or sponge cake sweetened 

 with honey or moist sugar), in addition to their seed, 

 and they would probably be the better for a few 

 minute insects also. They are very delicate birds and 

 subject to fits, which generally prove fatal. 



The little Grass Parrakeets are often called the 



