32 QUAKER PARRAEEET. 



impudent greenfinches that inhabit the same enclosure actually sit on 

 some of the projecting sprigs of birch of which the nest is built, 

 without the Quakers molesting them in the least, or indeed taking 

 any notice of their presence. A pair of New Zealand Parrakeets too 

 run over the most in their quick mouse-like fashion, without, as far 

 as can be detected, provoking the resentment of the owners; who, 

 possibly, may be a particularly even-tempered pair. They are not 

 very young we know, and that may account for their superior skill 

 in nest construction, no less than for their amiable and forbearing 

 disposition; for youth is apt to be resentful at times, and mature age, 

 not senility, is, or should be, more tolerant. Birds, too, like men, 

 gather wisdom by experience, whence the superior architectural skill 

 of our pair, which certainly greatly exceeds that of their youthful 

 compatriots at Fox Warren; for the former work with an evident 

 object in view, which the latter apparently lacked. 



A nest five feet high, and six in circumference at the top, must 

 have taken a goodly number of birch twigs to construct, and the 

 havoc wrought among the surrounding trees must have been con- 

 siderable. Needless to mention, that it would be perfectly useless to 

 plant trees or shrubs in any space where a pair of Quaker Parrakeets 

 were confined. 



" Quaker " ? Why are these birds called by the popular designation 

 of the estimable people who name themselves " Friends " ? It is difficult 

 to say; but possibly on account of the fact that the head, throat and 

 breast of these birds is of that delicate pearly shade of grey, so often 

 affected by the lady members of that Society; but there the resemblance 

 ceases, for the remainder of the plumage is bright grass green excepting 

 the flight feathers, which are blue. The beak, somewhat large for the 

 size of the owner, is white, horn-white, with a slight shade of brown. 

 The legs and feet are lead colour, and the former are short and stout, 

 indicating arboreal habits. 



Azara, who first described these birds, gave them the name of 

 " Young widows, because no Parrots show such an amount of smart 

 and coquettish ways as these," which, it must be confessed, is a little 

 hard on the ladies. Azara, however, may, on the whole be considered a 

 reliable authority, and although his first account of these nest-building 

 Parrots was received by naturalists with incredulity, his observations 

 have since been amply confirmed by subsequent travellers in the same 

 regions, of whom it will be sufficient to name Darwin and Burmeister ; 

 as well as by numerous exhibitions of their nest-building proclivities 

 in various aviaries and Zoological Gardens. 



If the Quaker Parrot is not, as we have seen, a showy bird, it 



