Parrots ^ Parakeets 177 



miration, but we have become so used to it, that most 

 people think little of it. For all that, one always 

 keeps a warm corner in one's bird affections for this 

 jolly, cheery little fellow, with his swallow-like 

 warblings, his brilliant colouring, and his readiness 

 to adapt himself to his surroundings and rear up a 

 numerous progeny. 



And now mankind is putting his mark on the little 

 green bird, so that he has in some instances become 

 pale yellow all over — whereby he has decidedly 

 deteriorated — and will possibly in time be blue as 

 well. 



Nothing, however, will excel the natural colours 

 and design. 



The female is easily distinguishable from the male 

 by the brown cere over her bill, which in her mate is 

 blue. 



When a hen bird is going to nest, this cere 

 becomes deeper in colour and rougher in texture. 



The small black spots on the feathers of the face 

 are very quaint, and the whole outline of the bird is 

 extremely elegant. 



In a large aviary their flight is extraordinarily 

 swift as they dart from one end to the other, screaming 

 shrilly as they fly. 



Any amount of them will sit together in a row, 

 each pair warbling to one another, and caressing. 



There is another of the small grass parakeets of 

 Australia, which is said to be numerous in the vicinity 

 of the Swan River, but which is never, or very, very 

 seldom, sent to England — the Earl of Derby parakeet, 



M 



