CHAPTER XLII. 



Golcien--rieacUcl 

 of Nero 



I HIS pretty little bird, which is about the same size 

 as the Turquoisine, is also a native of our Anti- 

 podean Islands, and is even less common than the 

 preceding, for which reason it is of very rare occur- 

 rence in this country, so that the chance of acquiring 

 one of them by exchange was immediately taken ad- 

 vantage of. 



When the bird arrived it looked too small almost 

 to be lodged in an ordinary Parrot cage, but as I had 

 no other place for it just then, there it had to go ; but 

 the bars did not confine it long, for it immediately 

 stepped between them as easily as it would have done 

 through a six-foot doorway, and careered wildly round 

 and round the room until it had quite exhausted itself, 

 when it dropped down helpless in a corner. 



Before I could secure the truant, "Cetewayo," a big 

 black tom-cat of ours, which I did not know was 

 present, had seized the poor bird in his powerful jaws 

 and although it was promptly rescued, the poor little 



