THE SHELL PAEOQUEET. 167 



tion to them as the blue mountaineer does to the parrots. 

 In fact, there is a resemblance between the two birds in 

 shape, flight, and habits. The loriqueet is smaller than 

 the green paroqueet, but much finer made ; and the two 

 middle feathers of the tail are long and pointed, project- 

 ing beyond the others, which gives the bird a very sharp 

 appearance. The plumage is green, prettily marked with 

 blue and red ; the shoulders are crimson, and the tail 

 faint rose coloured. It was an uncertain visitant to our 

 forests ; seemed to be the most common in the beginning 

 of winter ; but at irregular periods all through the year, 

 except in the very heart of the breeding season, large 

 flocks would come down into the timber. This bird is 

 rightly named ; for, as they dash through the forest, they 

 fly almost with the speed of the spine-tailed swift. Both 

 this and the green paroqueet are honey-eaters. 



Very few of the parrots breed with us. I have taken 

 the nest of the rosella out of a hollow tree ; eggs three, 

 and white. I found the eggs of the swamp parrot, four, 

 white, and more oblong than those of the other species, 

 which are generally round, on the ground, among the 

 heather ; and I took the eggs of one of the ground paro- 

 queets out of a hollow tree ; but I do not think any of the 

 others breed in our forests, except perhaps an odd pair or 

 so of mountaineers. I do not fancy any of the parrots 

 are gregarious in breeding, but that they breed in odd 

 pairs, generally dispersed over the forests. 



Occasionally, but very rarely, a flock of the Budgere 

 Oar, or Shell Paroqueet, would pay us a visit; and I 



