AND OTHER BIRDS 133 



never get light on the bird, always the side 

 nearest the lens was in shadow. The Parrakeet, 

 too, is a most lively, restless bird; and perhaps 

 the coloration of the feathers and their gloss may 

 also be urged in excuse or extenuation. 



During a large part of the year the Parrakeet 

 tribe are pre-eminently birds of the tree tops. 

 In spring, however, th^y obtain some portion of 

 their food from the earth, and can then be 

 approached closely, and seem to be gently 

 scraping the ground, standing on one foot and 

 raking with the other an attitude singularly 

 inappropriate both to the spirit and figure of 

 the bird. Whilst thus occupied it seems to be 

 deeply absorbed, and is probably collecting some 

 sort of animal food, maybe the larvae or eggs of 

 some cicada or beetle. Then, and during the 

 nesting season he forsakes his heights ; otherwise 

 his merry span of life is passed between the 

 green spread of tree tops and heaven's blue the 

 greens and blues he borrows for his plumes. 

 From their gnarled ironwood, in March, three 

 little Parrakeets were drawn half fledged, and 

 pending my departure, were entertained by the 

 kind hostess who afterwards befriended ' ' Dick, ' ' 

 the infant Kiwi. 



They were reared on oatmeal slightly 

 moistened in the mouth, warm therefore, and in 

 its most wholesome form. They fed well and 

 proved moreover excellent travellers, crossing 

 Foveaux Strait, and enduring a long railway 

 journey. 



Until their ultimate destination, Tutira, was 

 reached, they were broken to freedom by flight 

 about the rooms of South Canterbury relatives 

 with whom I stayed. The birds learned to 

 return to their cage for lettuce leaves, for the 



