1 62 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



The male is a magnificent creature. His principal 

 colour is crimson with a tinge of scarlet on his head, 

 neck and breast: the remainder of his body is a dark 

 sage-green, except the tail, which is very dark blue, 

 the rump, which is a lighter shade of the same colour, 

 and a patch on the middle of each shoulder of verditer- 

 green, which last is usually spoken of as the "butterfly 

 spot". The bill is orange-red. 



The female is all green, with a shade of red on the 

 breast; she has no wing mark, and her tail is rather 

 green than blue: in both sexes the under surface of 

 the tail feathers is black. The young resemble their 

 mother. 



The male is possessed of a nice voice, and will learn 

 to whistle uncommonly well, also to repeat a number 

 of words and short sentences very distinctly, but in 

 somewhat a low tone. He will soon get to be very 

 tame if treated kindly, will dance at command, turn a 

 somersault round his perch, flap his wings, "shake 

 hands," and do other little tricks, but his forte is whistling, 

 and there is no doubt that if as much pains were taken 

 with him as is the case with the Bullfinch and the Canary 

 he would far and away surpass both birds as a per- 

 former, and would bring a price in the market that 

 would make it worth the while of the Sydney farmers 

 not only not to molest, but actually to protect him. 



There is an allied species known as the Red-shining 

 Parrakeet, from the Islands in the Pacific, that 



