CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
139 
trees, a.id hence are called ground parrakeets : the King, the 
Koselle, the Cnmson- shouldered, the Blood- billed, ani the 
Barnard, are names given to some of the varieties. Canary 
seed and dry crumbled bread is the food that appears to suit 
them best ; millet would, no doubt, be good for them, and 
the seeds of our native gTasses. 
CERAM, OR VARIEGATED LORY. 
I All the lories with which we are acquainted arc remark- 
able for the splendid colours of their plumage 5 the dis- 
tinctive marks of this sub-family of the great parrot tribe 
are not easily pointed out, having more to do with internal 
structure than external appearance ; except to a scientific 
naturalist, it is not at all obvious why certain parrots should 
I be, as it were, set apart from the rest, and called lories and 
lorikeets, a name given to smaller birds discovered in Aus- 
tralia and the Pacific Islands, and at present but little 
j known. The species with which we have commenced our 
! account of the lories kept as cage birds in this country, is 
I generally brought from the Malaccas. It is about the size 
of a pigeon, and has commonly — for individuals vary con- 
jsiderably — a bright scarlet body, marked with green and 
blue of different shades ^ the beak is of an orange colour; 
the cere and circle round the eyes ashy; the Yvnd green 
and rich violet tints which play about the plumage, shifting 
and changing as the bird alters its position in the light, and 
the predominance of scarlet in its plumage, render this a 
most gorgeous bird : it is very tractable, and may be treated 
the same as the ash-coloured parrot. 
THB PURME-CAPPED LORY. 
This alsj *s a magnificent bird, about the same size as 
the last, and a native of the East Indies. It is distinguished 
!by a cap of purple on the top of the head. Hed, green, 
jblue, and orange, are the prevailing colours of its plii- 
image, the first occupying the whole space, except the 
wing -coverts, which are covered by the second, and have 
scapular edging of the third tint ; the orange is confined to 
the beak, a band across the breast, and a margin to the tail 
feathers. The feet are gray. In the female the breast 
band is wanting, or but faintly traced, and the cap is 
