168 NATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



recollect, in tbe middle of the summer 1854, our guin- 

 trees swarmed with them. They stayed about a month, 

 when they suddenly disappeared, and only an odd strag- 

 gier or so has been since seen in our district. I should 

 say that this is the handsomest paroqueet in the colony, 

 and is well known at home, as a cage-bird, by the name 

 of the zebra paroqueet. It is smaller than the loriqueet, 

 which it rather resembles in shape. The ground colour is 

 light sea-green, prettily striped, and variegated with yellow 

 and black ; a light yellow forehead, and three or four 

 deep purple spots on each cheek. But it is impossible 

 to do justice to the beauties of this class of birds in 

 a pen-and-ink sketch. The shell paroqueet is very 

 common on the Adelaide side. 



"We now come to the Ground Paroqucets, and these 

 can be easily distinguished from the others by their long 

 thin legs, straighter claws, and smaller beaks ; and they 

 can all run well upon the ground, which the other species 

 cannot. We had, I think, two varieties of common 

 ground paroqueets, which were always in flocks on the 

 plains or in the heather, often under the large honey- 

 suckles, and they appeared to remain with us throughout 

 the year. Unlike the swamp parrot, these little birds 

 fly much into the trees, although they always feed upon 

 the ground. They are smaller than the loriqueet, of a 

 light green above and bright yellow below ; the tail long 

 and pointed, yellow underneath. One variety had blue 

 on the forehead. The other was a duller and plainer bird. 



But the Red-shouldered Ground Paroqueet was by far 



