Correspondence. 
237 
In due course a brood was successfully reared, and forthwith l)r()Uf;lit 
back to the farm to share the hospitality of their kind hostess. 
Since then the flock (I am at a loss to identify the species by the 
photo*) has continually increased, until they have become almost a nuisance. 
w. p:dmunds. 
* Apparently Swainson (Blue Mountain) Lorikeets. — En. 
LOVEBIRDS AND THEIR METHOD OF CARRYING NESTING MATERIAL. 
Sir. - I have noticed a very interesting habit of the Madagascar Love- 
bird, which perhaps is not known to every keeper of this species. For two 
successive years this pair has nested in my aviary ; last year they used a nest 
box put up for my (^ockateels as a recej^tacle in which to construct their 
home, lining it thickly with strips and leaves fallen from a pear tree. It 
was then autumn. Recently I have noticed, that is, for some days past, that 
the hen bird was spending a lot of time in the same nest-box, but when I 
looked to-day (July 16th) there was nothing in it except a few pieces of 
grass, so I thought I would give them some leaves. I straightway cut a large 
branch from an apple tree and put it in the aviary, fixing it up as a perch ; 
it was but a very short time before the hen bird began to gather the strips 
and leaves therefrom, and this is how she proceeded. Sitting on the branch 
.she started at the stalk end and (juickly bit a narrow piece off the whole 
length of the leaf, she then tucked this piece in the feathers of the lower 
part of her back ; she would do this at the rate of about 10 per minute, and 
I counted her cut off and tuck in her feathers twenty-one pieces before she 
flew away with them to the nest, and only two or three pieces falling out 
either en route or in arranging them in the nest. 
The pieces of leaves gave the bird a curiously ragged appearance 
when viewed from the rear at fairlj' close quarters, but were not nearl}- as 
noticeable as one would surpose, the hue of the leaves being very similar to 
that of her plumage. 
This seems to me a very unusual and clever habit, and I think if a 
branch with green leaves on was given to a pair of these it birds would 
perhaps induce them to nest more frequently. 
H. B. LARNER. 
Similar habits are common, either in a greater or lesser degree, to the 
Red-headed and Blue-winged (Passerine Parrakeets), and Black-cheeked 
Lovebirds, and also the various species of Hanging Parrakeets. — Ei). 
BREEDING OF STELLA'S LORIES. 
Siu. — In response to your enquiries, one of my young Stella's Lories 
has left the nest and is a well grown bird. 
The period of incubation was about three weeks and the young bird 
was in the nest exactly two months. 
The plumage is exactly the same as the adult birds, except that the 
Hanks are yellow like the female parent, but the part of the back that in the 
adult female is yellow, is red as in the adult male. The beak of the young 
bird before it left the nest was brown, it is now gradually turning pink, but 
still has a decidedly brownish hue. The legs are of a slaty-flesh colour. 
When this bird was about two weeks old the female parent died sud. 
denly, but luckily the cock has proved a first rate nurse, 
