GENUS MELOPSITTACUS. (Gould). 
rpil KK Y. is but one known species of this form, and it is strictly gregarious. It assembles in vast flocks upon 
open downs or plains covered with grasses, upon whose seeds it subsists entirely. Of a hardy adaptive 
T 
disposition, it is admirably adapted to captivity. 
MELOPSITTACUS UNDULATUS. (Gould.) 
WARBLING GRASS PARBAKEET, BUDGERIGAR, SMELL BARRAKEET, ZEBRA 
BARRAKEET, LOVE BIRD. Genus: Melopsittacus. 
FOE, so small a bird, the Melopsittacus undulatus has an overpowering number of names — the penalty of 
popularity combined with hardihood and a wide distribution. However, the best known name is the 
native one, Budgerigar, signifying " pretty bird." The almost equally common one, Love Bird, was 
bestowed upon it without an extensive idea of fitness to its the disposition, for, though it is capable of a 
large amount of affection, and is fond of society, yet the supposition that it will die broken-hearted, should 
anything happen its mate, is one of those pretty fables which do not bear the test of experiment. More 
than once Sir Budgerigar has proved himself both false and fickle. Forbes Leith in his experience of these birds 
says : " I have a pair at present, and the male has deserted his mate for the company of a Java Sparrow, which 
he plays with and teases alternately all day long, to the extreme disgust of his once-loved companion." There is 
no Parrakeet more popular as a cage pet than this one, as it possesses in a large degree all those qualities that go to 
make a willing and cheerful captive. The male has a sweet warbling note, and is never tired of hearing his own 
voice ; it is a matter of no consequence whether he has an audience or not ; he is equally pleased to take a stick 
into his confidence, and will chatter to it by the hour, running his beak up and down it after a fashion that strikes 
the on-looker as rather ludicrous ; he will even continue his warblings through the night if placed in a lighted 
room where conversation is going on. 
The single species that exists of this genus is widely distributed over the mainland of Australia from the 
Gulf of Carpentaria to Western Australia, and is usually found in immense flocks feeding together on the grassy 
plains. As soon as the grass seeds are exhausted in one colony or locality, the birds go off on migratory wing to 
another, where the change of latitude is sufficient to make an alteration in the time of the seasons. Thus it 
affects the southern colonies during spring and the breeding season, when the unripened state of the grass seeds 
offers a soft food for the young ones ; but as soon as they are capable of a long journey, the whole flock betakes 
itself to more northern latitudes. The flight is very straight and swift, and usually accompanied by a screeching 
noise. 
Incubation is at its height in December, and the development of this species is so rapid that the young 
bird is capable of providing for himself at the end of a month from the time of hatching. In captivity this 
precocity is extraordinary, instances having been known when they have paired, laid eggs, and reared their young 
before they had moulted their nest feathers, and were themselves not more than three or four months old. Unlike 
the habit of many other genera, the male Budgerigar does not help in the task of incubation ; but upon him 
devolves the duty of feeding his mate while she is sitting, and doing the principal part of the rearing of their little 
ones, which occupies his time fully. In the natural state, two broods of three or four eggs are reared in the 
season, but in domesticity they raise three or four broods of from four to nine eggs, and will breed all the year 
round if kept indoors. Some hens sit- so continuously that unless the cock is very attentive in supplying an 
abundance of food they will die on the nest soon after hatching. But the abnormal prolificacy of one year is 
usually counteracted the next by a single brood of two. 
The eggs are pure white, eight lines and a-half long by six lines and three-quarters broad. 
