94 
AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 
cue sheet of a delicate gray lavender, and the next instant a flash 
of brilliant salmon-pink, as the whole company turns and wheels, 
obedient to some command or signal unperceived by us; again, 
the sun lights up the pale-pink crests and gray backs, as they turn 
once more and wheel, screeching, to continue their evolutions fur- 
ther afield. It is a sight that lingers in the memory. They are 
charming pets, and some talk well. Their beauty adds charm to 
our almost perfectly level great inland plains. 
The delicately-colored and friendly Cockatoo Parrot, with its 
immovable crest, takes a sub-family to itself. It migrates from 
the North, and, in a dry year, may even reach the South 
Coast. In 1908 some of these birds reached Colac, in Southern 
Victoria. They are favorite aviary birds, and thousands have 
been exported. 
In the true Parrot family, Australia Is strongly represented by 
many beautiful birds. The first is the Barraband Parrakeet of 
Gould, and the Green Leek of some ornithologists. As the name 
Green Leek is practically in universal use for the Musk Lorikeet 
(Green Keet) of the ornithologist, it seems desirable to sink an 
inappropriate name into a synonym, and use the earlier name, 
Superb Parrot, for it is a beautiful bird. Sad to say, it has 
become exceedingly rare, though Mr. A. W. Milligan informed 
me, a few days ago, that he saw six fly into some pines at Black 
Rock one day this month (January, 1911). 
The Rock Pebble, or Smoker, of the country dweller, formally 
called the Black-tailed Parrot, is a fine bird. His tail, however, 
is not really black, but is strongly iridescent. He nested in num- 
bers, at the beginning of the nineties, in the dead box-trees in 
Lake Corrong. After an early tea, we frequently went over to 
the lake and watched the birds feeding their young. No longer 
do they inhabit that district, which has been completely cleared 
and placed under cultivation. 
The big King Parrot is a ''showy, noble species," and is still 
common in parts, especially the moist forest districts. 
The members of the next group form a sub-family — the Broad- 
tails — confined to Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the 
Pacific Islands. Judging by their names, they must be amongst 
the most beautiful of birds. The best known is the conamon 
Rosella, often quoted in European books as one of the most beau- 
tiful of birds. Its scientific name is eximius, which means ex- 
cellent. Indeed, the scientific names of Australian parrots give 
a good indication of their place amongst the glories of the bird 
world. The cousin of the Rosella— the large blue-winged and 
blue-cheeked Crimson Parrot — is well named elegans; a grass 
parrot is also elegans, then follow splendidus, splendida, and 
pulcfiella, while that great ornithologist, Gould, has conferred 
the honor of pulcherrimus on another Australian parrot. 
These names, given by scientists, will show Australians in what 
high esteem these birds, so common with us, are held by observers 
from other lands. 
The Crimson Parrot, previously mentioned, is, I think, be- 
