ON THE GENUS LORICULUS. 253 



nape light- orange- tinged ; the red of the upper tail- coverts already perfect ; 

 bill yellow; feet yellowish brown; underparts of the wings bright blue. 

 It chiefly fed on bananas in captivity, became very tame, and was a long 

 time in our possession. It followed my wife everywhere in the house, and 

 did not rest till it w^as near her ; then, without help, climbed up from the 

 ground to her shoulder or to her head. It loved best to take food from her 

 mouth, and licked up tea from her Hps. When we took our tea in the 

 afternoon, and the little bird only heard the rattling of the cups, it became 

 much excited, and did not rest until its cage w^as opened and it could come 

 near the table ; it then took the tea out of a small basin or a spoon. When 

 in its cage, and my wife passed by, it clapped its wings till she let it 

 out. When we left Manado for a fortnight, on a boat-tour round the north 

 shores of Celebes, through the Straits of Banka and Limbe, we gave it to a 

 neighbour in board and lodging. Returned, he reported that it had been 

 melancholy throughout the whole time. When it saw my wife again, it 

 became much excited ; this I observed myself. Being placed in the same 

 cage with the smaller Loriculus exilis^ it always bit it ; they could not remain 

 together. But with the larger Trichoglossus meyeri it became anxious; 

 nevertheless it attacked that bird as much as possible. 



"When we left Manado for a longer time, to spend some months in the 

 mountainous regions of the Minahassa, we trusted our pet again to that 

 neighbour; but when we came back he reported that it bad died from 

 sorrow. He had not been able to cheer the creature up; it cried 

 incessantly, and at last was found dead. The man in whose care it was, 

 had seen and knew exactly how we had treated the bird ; it therefore did 

 not die on account of wrong or improper food &c. I will not decide whether 

 the explanation that it died from sorrow, was the right one or not ; at all 

 events, it was an amiable lovely bird, for whose death we mourned. But I 

 should not have thought it worth while to narrate this at all, were it not to 

 show that even these small Parrots are very sagacious and attractive 

 creatures.'' 



