BUDGEBIQAR. 117 



and others of a faint yellowish green, with scarcely a trace of the 

 characteristic undulations: while a blue variety is stated to have been 

 produced in Belgium, where the yellow birds originated a few years 

 back: to us these "sports" are far less beautiful than the little, sprightly 

 green-coated Budgerigar, now so familiar to aviarists; that they are 

 more delicate than the original bird, we are certain, and it is probable 

 that without much care, and judicious crossing, these accidental variations 

 will die out, which, after all, would perhaps be no misfortune : though 

 doubtless others will arise, and in time there will be Budgerigars, as 

 there now are Canaries, of all colours, with scarce a trace of their 

 origin discernible about them. 



In Jardine's Naturalist's Library, Selby writes of the Budgerigar, 

 which he named "Undulated Nanodes'" {Nanodes undulatus, Yig. et 

 Horsf.), as follows: — "This little species, which scarcely exceeds seven 

 inches in length, approaches still closer than its congeners in colour 

 and appearance to the Ground Parrot, and brings the genus Pezoporus, 

 Illg., into immediate connexion with that to which it belongs/' 



It might be thought that the force of imagination could scarcely 

 further go, but it does, considerably further; for M. E. Leroy is re- 

 minded by it of the Swallow! 



"Par sa structure" , writes that author, "par ses formes elancees, par 

 la petitesse de ses jambes, la longueur de ses ailes et de sa queue; en un 

 mot, par son greement et sa voilure, si je puis m' exprimer anisi, la 

 perruche oudulee se rapproche beaucoip de V hirondelle, si ce n' est que, 

 dans le vol, les plumes caudales, au lieu d' affecter la forme fourchue, se 

 deploient en eventail, les plus longues au milieu, absolument comme celles 

 du faisan." 



The Budgerigar like a Swallow! we are tempted to exclaim with 

 Hamlet, "Like a Whale!" 



Nor is Selby much happier in his resemblance of the Undulated one 

 to the Ground Parrot: both are Parrots, it is true, and both are green, 

 with dark undulated markings on a portion of the plumage, but there 

 the resemblance ceases. 



Dr. Euss has written a book about the Budgerigar, and the subject 

 is far from being exhausted: but the doctor is not exact when he says 

 of it: "Verbreitung fast ganz Austr alien" , for it is strictly confined to 

 that portion of the island comprised within the limits of the colony 

 of South Australia, and in point of fact is as rare in New South Wales 

 and Yictoria, as it is in England, or rarer. 



It is a bird of passage, migrating south to breed; " Zugvogel" , as 

 Dr. Buss remarks, and returning northwards when its one or two broods 

 of young have been reared, to feed on the grass seeds that have been 



