BLUE-BELLIED LORIKETT. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor’s notes read : “ When shot, the honey will run out of 
the bird’s mouth in a regular stream : they generally go about in flocks and 
make a loud screeching noise when flying swiftly along ; they also make a 
most deafening row when clambering about a large eucalypt which is in full 
blossom, chattering and screeching as if each one was trying to drown the 
voice of the other, and in this way one’s attention is soon attracted to their 
presence. They will also eat a certain amount of soft fruit, such as pears 
and apples that are sweet and ripe, and for this they are often shot, but it 
seems a shame to kill them on account of their most resplendent plumage, 
which is so varied as to contain fairly all the colours of the rainbow, and for 
this reason it has been suggested that ‘Rainbow Parrot’ would be a good 
name, but of course this would not take on well, now that they are so well 
known as the Blue Mountain Parrot. I have seen these parrots in flocks 
in Queensland, getting the honey from the bright orange flowers of the 
Moreton Bay chestnut trees ( Castanospermum australis), the bright orange of 
the flowers and the multitudinous colours of the parrot making a gay scene, 
and all the while the din of the birds being deafening. At the Reedbeds, 
South Australia, they come during the summer time to suck the honey from 
the gums, and along the Mount Lofty Range they are also plentiful at this 
time of the year. On Eyre’s Peninsula I have found them breeding in the 
hollow spouts of the gnarled sugar gums. I have also seen them breeding 
in the Flinders Ranges, below Port Augusta, where the timber is large along 
the stony creeks and watercourses. They have been trained to eat seed, and 
have lived in captivity on this diet for some time, but all eventually die of 
fits. The breeding months are August, September and October.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has also written me as follows : “ These birds are 
always to be found in the neighbourhood of the Meadows, South Australia. 
I have never seen them in great numbers here. During the last six years 
(1913) I have only seen a pair in the neighbourhood of Blackwood, but this 
year has been a remarkable exception with the Loriidae. On the 10th May, 
1908, flocks of a hundred or two were continually visiting the blue gums 
(E. leucoxylon) in my garden. At an earlier date than this they were visiting 
the gardens on the plains and eating pears. The brilliant plumage of these 
birds formed a fine spectacle. On 28/8/08 the birds had almost disappeared 
from our neighbourhood. I have been in South Australia over twenty years 
and have never seen this species in such numbers before. I have also 
collected this species on the Blackall range, seventy miles north of Brisbane, 
Queensland.” 
Mr. A. Campbell also added: “ T. novcehollandice, in; company with 
G. concinnus, invaded the orchards of Pomonal, Victoria, in countless numbers 
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