1 88 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



scarcely a couple of dozen feathers between them ! 

 Nevertheless I kept them for a few months, and 

 grotesque-looking objects they were, covered with grey 

 down only; when winter came, like the ant in Lafon- 

 taine's fable, they succumbed to the cold, although 

 kept in a comfortable bird-room indoors with many 

 other more delicate species that, happily, were not 

 troubled with their infirmity. 



Other amateurs have similar complaints to make, and 

 my advice to such as have not tried this or the last 

 species is simply, "Don't." 



A flock of Pennants, or of Adelaides and they go 

 about in little companies of from 15 to 20, flashing 

 by in the full glare of an Australian noon, when the 

 sun is scorching overhead, and the locusts are shrieking 

 themselves hoarse and everything else deaf is a sight 

 to be seen and to be remembered, but it is better, I 

 think, to leave them there amid their gorgeous, sub- 

 tropical surroundings, than to import them into this 

 "cold and cheerless land, where gum-trees languish 

 and mimosas fade, and fern-trees droop their feathery 

 fronds and die", unless, perhaps, they were to be lodged 

 in a hothouse, where I am strongly of opinion that 

 "the game would not pay for the candle". 



The scientific name of the Adelaide Broadtail is 

 Platycercus adelaidse. 



