THE SCALY-BREASTED LORIKEET. 137 



black; the bill is orange. The female has a general 

 resemblance to her mate, but she has fewer spots. 



As these birds are natives of Tasmania and the 

 southern parts of Australia, they are presumably quite 

 hardy, but I have not tested their capacity for resisting 

 our rigorous winters. I have little or no doubt r 

 however, that they would prove to be at least as hardy 

 as their relatives the Swainsons, with whom they possess 

 not a few points in common, that is to say, in the 

 matter of rapidity of movement, and the possession of 

 a decidedly musical voice, which is more than can be 

 said for the great majority of their congeners. 



I fed my pair mainly with Canary-seed, to which 

 Mr. Anton Jamrach told me they had been accustomed; 

 but I fancy it is extremely probable that a prolonged 

 diet of seeds would have told upon their digestive 

 system and given rise to dangerous complications, so 

 that had I kept them permanently I should have felt 

 disposed to have placed at their disposal a bill of fare 

 similar to the one I had provided for the Blue Mountains, 

 upon which the latter have done well, not only in 

 my aviary, but in others. 



All the Lorikeets have short tarsi, and are of much 

 more strictly arboreal habit than the Broadtails (Platy- 

 cerci] for instance; they are all extremely active on 

 the wing, and fly with immense velocity in a perfectly 

 straight line for a long distance, so that if they are 

 kept in a cage it should be as large a one as possible : 



