414 



BLUE-BELLIED PAKRAKEET. 



on each side the tip, by a number of lengthened 

 white papillae or processes. The Blue-Bellied Par- 

 rakeet is a bird of a lively disposition, and may be 

 rendered perfectly familiar and caressing. It feeds 

 readily, in a state of captivity, on bread soaked 

 in milk or water, as well as on various kinds of 

 fruits. 



Monsr. Levaillant, during his residence at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, had an opportunity of con- 

 templating a pair of this species, which were im- 

 ported from Amboina. These birds bred during 

 their confinement in the menagerie of Monsr. Van 

 Bletemberg, then governor at the Cape. The 

 female deplumed her breast, and after having col- 

 lected the feathers into a heap, deposited two 

 round white eggs, on which she sat most assidu- 

 ously ; the male feeding her at intervals, by dis- 

 gorging what he had swallowed into his beak, and 

 presenting it to her. The young were produced 

 at the end of nineteen days, and in the space of a 

 few more were covered with a cinereous-grey down, 

 which was by degrees succeeded by green feathers 

 on the body, by blue ones on the head. At the 

 end of thi ee weeks they left the nest, and perched 

 on the neighbouring sticks, where the male and 

 female in concert fed them as above described, in 

 the manner of pigeons. The parent birds con- 

 tinued to feed them in this manner for six months, 

 and often afforded a very interesting scene | the 

 young being frequently seated beyond the female; 

 and the male, not being able to reach them, first 

 presented the food to the female, who immediately 



