128 



PARROTS. 



long flights, hunting for any tree that may be in fruit ; and when it has made a 

 discovery of one in fruit, circling round, and swirling with outspread and down- 

 pointing wings till it alights on the tree. It associates in flocks of various size, 

 sometimes in vast numbers, and generally many hundreds roost together in some 

 garden or grove. It breeds both in holes in trees, and very commonly, in the south 

 of India, in old buildings, pagodas, tombs, etc. It lays four white eggs. Its breed- 



ROSY-FACED LOVE-BIRDS (f nat. size). 



ing-season is from January to March. Its ordinary flight is rapid, with repeated 

 strokes of the wings, somewhat wavy laterally or arrowy. It has a harsh cry, 

 which it always repeats when in flight, as well as at other times." These parraquets 

 are readily tamed, and in India will breed in that state. If well trained, they are 

 fairly quiet, but if their tempers have been unduly tried they are wont to exercise 

 their powers of screaming. 



The pretty little parrots (of which a group is represented in 

 our illustration), commonly known as love-birds, derive both their 



Love-Birds. 



