132 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



in time to save the latter bird's life, was something 

 too terrible. 



The Blue Mountain Lories, as the Swainsons are 

 also called, make excellent parents, I have been told, 

 but I did not keep them long enough to put them to 

 the proof in that direction. It is said they will bring 

 up three or four broods in the season, accommodating 

 themselves to our summer, instead of stupidly adhering 

 to their own division of the seasons as so many of 

 their fellow country Parrakeets and other birds are in 

 the habit of doing. 



The young ones, I have been further informed, issue 

 from their birth-place resembling the old ones in every 

 respect save size and the brilliancy of their colouring, 

 for which reason it would decidedly be as well to 

 mark the young birds, while yet in the nest, with a 

 ring on one of their legs, as pigeon fanciers habitually 

 do with the juvenile inmates of the dovecote, but in 

 the case of the Swainsons, or any kind of Parrakeet, 

 the ring would have to be of metal : it is very easy to 

 slip it over the front toes of the young birds, and then 

 by holding the hind toes up against the shank the 

 ring will slip on the leg without any difficulty, and 

 cannot be removed by the bird itself. 



These Parrakeets, or Lories, are not very frequently 

 imported, because their management is very much 

 misunderstood, and yet it is simple enough and the 

 birds are exceedingly desirable on account of their 



