14 NEW ZEALAND PABBAKEET. 



of them die before they become acclimatised, but once they have re- 

 covered from the effects of the voyage, and have become accustomed 

 to their new food and surroundings, they got on quite as well as any 

 of the Australian Parrots, Parrakeets, or Lories, with which we are 

 acquainted. 



Dark green is the prevailing colour of the plumage in these birds, 

 but the forehead, cheeks and rump are red; the flight feathers of the 

 wings are blue, and a few slight shades of the same colour appear in 

 different parts of the body, especially in certain lights. 



The female is rather larger than the male, which is about the size 

 of the Ro sella, and the red in her plumage is of a duller shade than 

 in the case of her mate. 



As its English name implies, this bird is a native of New Zealand: 

 it passes a good deal of time upon the ground, hence its legs are 

 long, the wings short, and the feet have no great prehensile power, 

 although the bird makes good use of one of them, usually the left, 

 for holding up its food: the beak, too, is slight, and better adapted 

 for eating grass seeds, than maize or hard corn. 



The nest is made in a hollow branch, and four or five white eggs 

 are laid on the bare wood, and hatched in about eighteen days: a 

 recent number of Dr. Russ's Die gefiederte Welt contained an account 

 of a brood of these birds, that had been successfully reared in Ger- 

 many; the first instance of their reproductiveness in Europe with which 

 we are acquainted: they are reported to be insectivorous in their habits, 

 but this we doubt; none of the specimens we have seen would touch 

 anything of the kind, but lived chiefly on canary seed, which they 

 were fond of scratching up with their feet at the bottom of the cage 

 in which they were kept. 



They are very gentle birds, and well deserve the epithet pacificus, 

 given to them by Latham, Yieillot, and other writers. They are not 

 able even to protect themselves from their stronger-billed congeners, 

 and should not be enclosed with any of the Platycerci, Cockatoos or 

 larger Parrots; on the other hand, they will not molest the tiniest 

 Finches, which evince no fear of them, but, emboldened by the gentle- 

 ness of their habits, scruple not to play all kinds of tricks upon them, 

 which the New Zealanders treat with good-humoured contempt: thus 

 when one of these birds approaches the seed-pan, where a Canary, 

 Java Sparrow, Silver-beak, or even an Avadavat is occupied in eating, 

 and the latter opens its beak and scolds, as the manner of these birds 

 is to do, Cyanoramjplms turns him about, though never so hungry, and 

 patiently waits to satisfy his appetite until the coast is clear. 



So gentle, peaceable, and loveable a bird ought to be a general 



