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Several specimens of this Lory are now living in the Zoological Society's Gardens. The 

 bird has been successfully bred in Germany. Mr. Greene recommends that mignonette, 

 groundsel-tops, dandelion-blooms, cabbage-, hawthorn-, apple-, and pear-blossoms, wallflower, 

 and, above all, clover should be given to it ; also dried figs (soaked in hot water till they can 

 be mashed into a pulp), honey, dates, ripe fruit, ants' eggs, and a little meat. It also eats 

 seeds. He adds : " Though cruel to their captive companions, they are amiable enough to 

 their master or mistress. In the country they readily learn to fly out and return at the 

 word of command, and a little liberty when the lime-trees are in blossom or the gorse, will 

 enable them to lay in a stock of health and vigour that will stand them in good stead many 

 days." 



The Bev. P. G. Dutton says that in health " they are charming birds for an aviary. 

 Their incessant activity and amusing ways, together with their extreme beauty, make them 

 birds that it is always a pleasure to watch. They are also very fond of bathing. But they 

 are not very suited to a room. Their cries, which are very ear-piercing, are pretty nearly as 

 incessant as their movements. I never heard one speak." It is most probable, however, 

 that some individuals could be led so to do. 



Vigors and Horsfield give, on the authority of Mr. Caley, the following particulars : — 

 " This bird is called War'rin by the natives, who take their young and sell them to the 

 settlers .... It is a bird remarkable for its docility and attachment to some people, although 

 a perfect scold to others, who may have teazed or offended it ... . It does not eat any kind 

 of grain, even in a domesticated state. It is much subject to fits, which generally prove 

 fatal ; and it is rare to find an individual kept alive above a couple of years. One that I 

 kept, on being shown a figure of a coloured plant, used to put its tongue to the flowers, as if 

 with the intent of sucking them, and I have seen it make the same attempt with a piece of 

 cotton furniture. The flesh of this bird is verv S'ood catin°:." 



We read about this bird in Diggles's ' Synopsis ' that "Its disposition is mild and affectionate, 

 and it may be taught to utter articulate sounds. A fine example was kept near Brisbane, 

 where it is especially abundant, for seven years, and was so tame and familiar that it was 

 allowed the full range of the house, its cage door being always open. When flocks of its 

 own species were feeding on the trees close by it would join their company, and, after 

 associating Avith them for a short time, return. It exhibited great partiality for a cat, on 

 whose back it used to climb and remain seated for hours together. This bird was fed entirely 

 upon bread and sugar. I have been credibly informed of another instance of a specimen 

 being kept for the long sj>ace of thirteen years .... It breeds in holes of trees, the mangrove 

 not unfrequently being selected for the purpose. The eggs are five in number, white, very 

 round, and nearly an inch in length." 



Moseley, in his account of Cape York, observes that this species flies about there 

 screaming and in small flocks, " and gathers so much honey from the flowers, that the honey 

 fairly pours out of the bird's beak when it falls shot to the ground." 



As to the nest and eggs, we learn from Mr. North, B.L.S., that " This species lays its 

 eggs, two in number, on the decayed wood in a hole of a dead branch of a Eucalyptus. Two 

 average specimens received from Mr. Geo. Barnard, of Dawson Kiver, Queensland, are dull 



