all others—but all in vain. This sort of thing went on for some

time, and I expected each minute to see it fly right away ; but

somehow it seemed afraid to venture beyond the garden bound¬

ary. Fortunately I knew its great fondness for mealworms, and

in them lay my only hope of securing the truant. It’s mate was

caged and carried to the foot of the tree on which the escaped

bird calmly sat ; and a handful of mealworms was thrown on the

ground close by, and several were given to the bird inside.

From aloft, the truant cast jealous glances at his mate, who was

having a good square meal ; and the temptation to join in the

repast quite overcame him. With a swoop he landed upon the

frame of the net I held in my hand, where he sat for some time,

apparently conscious that I was powerless to envelope him in its

folds while he remained in this position. But I waited patiently

and my patience was rewarded. With another swoop he seized a

mealworm, and my net was upon him before he could rise from

the ground.


The ordinary note of this species is peculiar and some¬

what difficult to describe, sounding something like cuio, cnio, but

it not infrequent^ utters a note resembling chip, chip, like a

Crossbill, but decidedly louder. This is probably the note that

Gould describes as pee, pee.


The upper parts of this species appear green in some

lights and deep blue in others, but the back is decidedly greener

than the wings or tail, which in most lights appear deep blue.

A line of greenish-black runs from the base of the bill through

the eye to the back of the head. The throat is white. A line

from the nostrils over the eye, all the underparts, and a band

encircling the neck are buff, most of the feathers being, in the

immature birds, margined with black.


The sexes are alike in plumage, but the male is probably

slightly the larger bird of the two.


“ The season of nidification commences in October and

lasts until December, the hollow spouts of the gum- and boles

of the apple-trees (Angophortz) being generally selected as a

receptacle for the eggs, which are four or five in number, of a

pinky-white, one inch and a line in length and ten lines in

■diameter.” (Gould). •



