124 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



for sale to the guileless sailor — one often sees speci- 

 mens more or less heavily splashed with yellow, and 

 probably by pairing these the pure yellow form could 

 be bred at will in a few generations. In the only 

 observed case known to me of the actual production 

 of this variety, however, I am told that the parents 

 are just two ordinary green Parrots ; they breed 

 every year in the same tree and all their brood are 

 always yellow, and a lively competition exists among 

 the local natives for the position of these valuable 

 youngsters. 



It is a very curious fact that, popular as the Parrot 

 has always been as a pet, the native fanciers have 

 never attempted to breed this '" sport " in confine- 

 ment ; whereas in the case of the little Australian 

 Grass Parrakeet or " Budgerigar " {Melopsittacus 

 und/ulatus) which has only been known as a cagebird 

 in Europe for about half a century, a yellow variety 

 has already been fixed, and is now ofEered for sale 

 at a price doubtless highly gratifying to its producers. 

 The Budgerigar is a familiar cage-bird here and has 

 even escaped and 'bred, but it has not yet, at all 

 events, established itself as one of our wild birds. 



Our own native bird is certainly not very conspi- 

 cuous here at most times, and I was astonished to 

 find him so abundant in Bombay, where he is as 

 numerous as the mynah in Calcutta. The Parrot, 



