30 BEAUTIFUL PABBAKEET. 



Twelve or thirteen inches in length, of which the tail occupies five 

 or six, these slim and elegantly- shaped birds are natives of New South 

 Wales, where they feed on the honey and pollen of flowers, flies and 

 small insects, and in winter on such insects and seeds as they can find. 



The sexes differ immensely in colour, the male is gorgeously appar- 

 elled, and the female as soberly clad as her mate is gay. The top of 

 the head of the male is dark grey, the back and wings are of the 

 same colour but a shade lighter, the forehead is bright red, the face, 

 neck, and breast a wonderful combination of blue and green, so blended 

 that in one light the one colour preponderates, and the other in another; 

 the rump is red, flecked with yellowish white spots, the tail is green, 

 shading off to blue at the extremities of the feathers, a band of scarlet 

 marks the shoulders, the beak is grey, and the feet and legs pale 

 slate colour. 



The female is yellow in those parts where her mate is green and blue, 

 and pale green where he is yellow, her head and wings are of a paler 

 grey than the male's, and her shoulder bands are yellow with a tinge 

 of red, a few specks of the same colour appearing on her breast. 



The young males can be distinguished from their mother, by their 

 red frontlet, red shoulder stripes, green cheeks, and reddish abdomen, 

 while their wings and back are nearly as dark as those of their father. 



It is a pity these beautiful creatures are so difficult to keep, for, 

 apart from their beauty, there are few foreign birds more amiable 

 and inoffensive in their habits, or more susceptible of being complete- 

 ly tamed; and if only a suitable diet could at all times be devised 

 for them they would be more frequently met with in the aviaries of 

 amateurs than is at present the case. 



Although generally classed by writers with the Grass Parrakeets, 

 Hjuphemce, or with the Psephoti, the Beautiful is more nearly related 

 to the Triclioglossi, and if this fact be borne in mind, and its treat- 

 ment assimilated as much as possible to that recommended for the 

 former birds, as well as for the Many-coloured Parrakeet, a considerable 

 advance toward a solution of the difficult problem of how to preserve 

 them in captivity will have been made. 



Although an enterprising breeder recently advertised aviary-bred 

 specimens of the Beautiful or Paradise Parrakeet for sale, we venture 

 to doubt the fact of their having been bred in this country, or even 

 on the continent of Europe: it is just possible they may have been 

 reared at the Cape of Good Hope, where Blue Mountain and other 

 Lories have, we know, been produced in confinement; but flowers, the 

 honey and pollen of which form the principal food of these 'Lorikeets', 

 are as abundant there as leaves in summer are with us, and if supplied 



