254 AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN ANIMALS 



cuckoos have laid in the nests of graminivorous birds, with the consequent 

 starvation of the young. In other instances cuckoos lay in nests already contain- 

 ing eggs of their own species, while they also make use of nests too small to contain 

 the young birds in comfort. It is concluded that, so far at least as Australian 

 species are concerned, cuckoos, in place of possessing an instinct leading to the 

 selection of suitable foster-parents, lay their eggs haphazard. 

 Parrots and The parrot tribe is very strongly represented in Australasia, to 



cockatoos, which certain groups are more or less nearly restricted. Among 

 these are the members of the lory group (Triclwglossidce), which subsist chiefly on 

 the honey of flowers, collected by means of their brush-like tongues. Common 

 everywhere in Australia among shrubs and trees, these gorgeously coloured birds 

 are specially partial to gum-trees, to which they often resort in swarms. A well- 

 known example is Swainson's loriquet (Triehoglossus novce-hollandice), which is 

 blue, with the head and the centre of the under-parts green, and most of the 

 remainder of the plumage red mingled with yellow. Although not such climbers 

 as the typical lories of the more widely ranging genus Loriws, the loriquets are 

 far more powerful on the wing. Even more characteristic of Australia are the 

 grass-parraquets, a group distinguished by the great width of the tail-feathers, 

 of which the two middle pairs are nearly equal in length. This group includes 

 about 70 species, distributed over Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and the 

 Malay Archipelago east of Celebes, and ranging farther north than most other 

 parrots of the eastern hemisphere. They extend as far south as the Auckland 

 and Macquarie Islands, and as far east as Tahiti. Less efficient climbers than 

 other parrots, they enliven the extensive pastures of Australia, where they appear 

 in vast flocks to feed on the grass-seeds which form their chief food. They lead 

 a restless, wandering life, for so soon as a drought dries up the water and grass 

 they disappear from their breeding-places in the smaller forests (where crevices 

 in the gum-trees afford sites for nesting) and migrate across country until they 

 discover another spot where food is plentiful. These pretty parrots surpass most 

 of their relatives in the speed of their graceful flight; and many of them possess 

 an agreeable voice, while some are even endowed with a melodious, though short 

 song. By far the commonest of these flat-tailed parrots is the budgerigar 

 {Melopsittacus undidatus), a species of the size of a canary, in which the cocks 

 have the cere black, whereas in the hens the same surface is either brown or buff. 

 In colour the budgerigar is chiefly green, delicately picked out with the fine 

 waving black lines to which it owes its specific name. In many districts — the 

 neighbourhood of Adelaide among the number — these parraquets are extremely 

 abundant, and they are everywhere familiar as cage-birds. Another well-known 

 species is the cockatiel (Calopsittacus novcB-hollandice), which, like the budgerigar, 

 is the only representative of its genus, and is widely spread in Australia; its 

 habits being practically the same as those of the other members of the flat-tailed 

 group. Mention may also be made of the swallow-parrot (Nanodes discolor), 

 so called from the rapidity of its flight ; a species resembling lories rather 

 than other parraquets in its habits, as it lives chiefly in trees, and prefers the 

 honey from gum-tree blossoms to seeds. In many respects it may be re- 

 garded as intermediate between the broadtails and the lories; it inhabits 



