132 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



perches. The most amusing of his quarrels was, how- 

 ever, with a lorikeet, Loriculus vernalis. Lorikeets 

 are usually ill-tempered little beings, and this one, 

 when put into the aviary, began at once to bully 

 his neighbours. During the first day of his residence 

 he carried everything before him. He would hardly 

 let the honeysucker approach the flowers that were 

 put in specially for his benefit, running backwards 

 and forwards along the perch at the ends of which 

 they were hung up, and driving him off whenever 

 he tried to come near them. On the following 

 day, however, the honeysucker had become more 

 used to the presence of his enemy; the surprise 

 attending the sudden introduction of a new neighbour 

 had worn off, and he spent much time in serious 

 study of the subject ; and by the next morning, 

 and for some time thereafter, the lorikeet's life must 

 have been a burthen to him. He was subject to 

 incessant assaults, in the course of which the point 

 of a long sharp beak was suddenly thrust into 

 tender places, and so quickly withdrawn that, by 

 the time he had turned round in wrath, his enemy 

 was already at a safe distance and meditating a 

 fresh attack. This went on for some days until 

 the honeysucker had established a most whole- 

 some funk, and, having tired of the excitement 

 of constant warfare, had subsided into contemptuous 

 indifference. 



There is no month throughout the whole year 



