24 Successful Breeding of Forsleu's Lorikeet.


thought “ Can I fly down all that way ? ” He hung on by his

bill, letting himself down to a more outside branch, and so pro¬

ceeding until he reached the uttermost edge. Then he stretched

himself forward, then he drew back! Would he ever come? A

little shriek and the next moment he dropped from the top ot

that tall tree almost like a stone into my very arms : literally !

for I stretched out my arms, and he came between them, and so

I clasped him to me.


The French gardener with two indoor servants who had

come out to watch gaped in astonishment, but not more so than

I did !



SUCCESSFUL BREEDING OF FORSTEN’S

LORIKEET.


Trichoglossus forsteni.


By Mrs. Micheu,.


Perhaps it may be of interest to members to hear that this

year a pair of Forsten’s Lorikeets, purchased from Jamrach in

May 1900, have reared one young one in my outdoor aviary.

The hen laid two eggs in July in the hollow part of an old tree-

trunk. I took these away, but on the iSth of August, hearing a

curious hissing sound, I examined the log, and found it pro¬

ceeded from a young bird in the place where I had found the

eggs. Its head was fully feathered, and it had the yellow collar,

bnt the rest of the body was covered with soft grey down. The

little bird was left entirely to its parents, whom I saw feeding it

in the way that doves feed their young.


On the first of September the young Lorikeet left the nest,

and I found it clinging to the netting of the aviary. Being afraid

the other birds might injure it, I had it removed, with its parents,

to a small inner aviary, where it is now. To-day (October 3rd) I

saw it eating seed, and I think the parents no longer feed it. It

is very fond of grapes, and has had some every day since it came

out of the nest. The plumage is just like that of its parents, the

rose-red on the breast, and under wing-coverts, and the green on

the wing is cpiite as light as in the adults. The head is rather

duller, and the eye is dark, without the red light the old birds

have. The underpart of the body is well feathered and just the



