BLUE MOUNTAIN LORY. 41 



for six years in the aviary of a friend, "laying several eggs, though 

 kept singly", tells us that it was fed on, " besides canary-seed and 

 maize, a little sugar, with occasionally a morsel of raw beef, scraped 

 very fine, and mixed with scraped carrot/'' 



Insect food seems to us to be indispensable for the well-being of 

 these birds, and in addition to the dietary prescribed by Dr/Russ and 

 Mr. Wiener, we would recommend mealworms and ants' eggs, or, failing 

 these, gentles well scoured in bran; the latter insects are readily ob- 

 tainable, and may be kept in the pupa stage all through the winter 

 in a cellar, or cool plant-house, buried in sand. 



Like all the Parrot family these Lories breed in hollow boughs, 

 where the female deposits from three to four white eggs, about the 

 same size as those of the Oockatiel, upon which she sits for twenty- 

 one days: the young, from the first, resemble their parents closely, 

 but are a trifle less brilliantly coloured. 



"The Blue Mountain Lory is an extremely active, graceful, and hand- 

 some bird, but has a most abominable shriek", says Dr. Puss; a 

 statement which Mr. Wiener corroborates in the following terms: — 

 "His noise, however, is nearly as disagreeable as his plumage is 

 beautiful." While Mr. Gredney, on the contrary, declares that it "has 

 a soft agreeable note, and seldom indulges in any objectionable noises." 



For our own part we agree with the former, rather than with the 

 last testimony as to the vocal powers, or abilities of the Blue Moun- 

 tain, whose voice we consider to be particularly harsh and unpleasing; 

 but of course tastes differ, and a note that jars unpleasantly on one 

 man's ear, may have an agreeable and soothing effect upon another. 



We look upon these birds as most decidedly quarrelsome, and unfit 

 to be trusted in a mixed company. Dr. Euss, however, considers that 

 "in a bird-room with small birds they are not dangerous, but they 

 must not be kept with other Parrots." 



Like most Parrots," says Mr. Wiener, in this connection, "the Blue 

 Mountain Lory can only be kept with other Parrots at considerable 

 risk, and I had to learn that two males put in one cage under the 

 impression of being a pair can kill each other." 



Mr. Gredney again seems to have been peculiarly happy in his speci- 

 mens, for of them he remarks, "But for the terribly sudden death 

 which so soon overtakes these birds, they would be the most charming 

 feathered pets that a lady could possess, for they have neither the 

 power nor the inclination to bite savagely." 



The same writer's recommendation to feed this Lory "exclusively 

 upon soft food, in which honey forms a prominent part", doubtless 

 in great measure accounts for his advice to those of his readers "whose 



