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of the Golden-shoulder lying about, and supposed that she had

commenced to moult; and she was looking very ragged and

untidy. On two occasions, however, I picked up a very substan¬

tial “ mouthful ” of her blue lower-back feathers, and not till

then did it dawn upon me that the feathers I had noticed lying

about had probably been pulled out by the Redrump in his

endeavours to stop her and bring her to reason. The two birds,

moreover, were very adtive prospecting all over the place, and

more than once seemed inclined to settle down in some nesting

spot, but w’ere invariably ousted by an old Musky Rorikeet, who,

“ paired ” with a Golden-fronted Parrakeet (Bivtogerys tuiparaJ,

was determined upon nesting, and in turns took possession of

every box and log that I was able to supply, ruthlessly destroying

every nest that came into his way ; and so it came about that

I ceased to concern myself with the doings of the Golden-

shoulder.


On May 14th, I suddenly became aw r are that the Golden-

shoulder must be sitting, and found she had a nest in the bird-

room, close by the door; and, feeling in the log, I found it

contained four eggs. As there were other birds in the bird-room

I was obliged to go in occasionally; but she sat so timidly that

she invariably dashed out of the room the instant I touched the

handle of the door. Otherwise she sat well, never coming off

the nest but for the shortest possible time. While sitting, I

think she was never fed on the nest by the male Redrump. The

Redrump, nevertheless, could not have been more watchful and

attentive. By word of mouth, he let her know everything that

was going on in the outside world. They had a by no means

meagre vocabulary, and, although of different species, under¬

stood one another perfectly. Should anyone appear, instantly a

few very high-pitched piercing notes were sounded in rapid

succession, almost as high pitched as the squeak of the bat

which is inaudible to some ears. When that note had been

uttered, the Golden-shoulder would lie like a log. Indeed,

except when disturbed, I doubt if she ever left the nest until he

came for her, and called her off with a few shrill whistles followed

by pretty warbling notes, which she usually obeyed at once. He

would then instantly feed her ; and she would quickly rush off for

a nibble at the green grass or something, and dart away back to

her nest accompanied by her warbling mate.


On not less than two occasions, the Musky Rorikeet

invaded the nest. The Redrump made no offer of assistance ;

but the Golden-shoulder, from the interior of her log, growled



