THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
in January, 1908, before the native eucalypt trees, which had been retarded 
by a heat wave, came into full flower.” 
Mr. J. A. Hill, writing from Kewell, via Murtoa, Victoria, in the Emu, 
Vol. III., p. 115, 1903, on the question, “ Do birds find food by instinct or 
sight ? ” records : “A flock (about 20) of Blue-bellied Lorikeets ( Trichoglossus 
novcehollandice) came to a clump of sugar gums (eucalypts) I have planted for 
shelter last December, and stayed while the blossoms lasted. I have not seen 
these birds about this district for over twenty years, not even flying overhead.” 
As confirmation may be cited Capt. S. A. White in the Emu, Vol. VIII., 
p. 162, 1909 : Cl Last season, Lorikeets ( Trichoglossus novcehollandice) visited the 
Adelaide plains in unusual numbers, perhaps due to the big bush-fires in 
the ranges, and most likely these beautiful birds have been in the habit for 
ages of visiting these plains for food when their supply in the hills gave out ; 
but now, poor things ! they find man has completely destroyed their forest 
feeding grounds, and, not satisfied with this destruction, he shoots the birds 
on sight. Large numbers of these birds visited my garden and showed a 
great liking for pears, and on several mornings just as the sun rose and shed 
its bright rays on the pear-trees, literally covered in these gorgeous birds, 
screaming and chattering as they made their morning meal, they presented 
a sight that I will not easily forget. But what was my sorrow a few days 
later to find my friends had visited a neighbour’s garden and soon a gun 
was brought to bear on them, and they paid with their lives ; and so it 
goes on. Man takes up a piece of country in the centre of a virgin forest, 
clears it, and plants an orchard. When the trees begin to bear, of course 
they are an attraction or bait for miles around to the unsuspecting birds, 
and they are destroyed one after another till the country far and near is 
drained of our native birds, and soon they will be exterminated.” 
Dr. W. Macgilhvray thus describes the northern form’s habits in the 
Emu, Vol. X., p. 221, 1910 : “ There is, however, a distraction to the 
monotony of the Pigeon’s note, and this consists in the continued screechings 
of thousands of Blue Mountain Lorikeets ( Trichoglossus novcehollandice), 
which are also arriving from the mainland in vast flocks to rest in this 
same belt of mangrove. This large stream of screeching and cooing creatures 
continues to pour into the mangrove patch until it can hold no more, and 
the noise is almost deafening. The overflow occupies the trees on the side 
of the island, until, not every tree, but every limb, has its quota of either 
Pigeons or Lorikeets, the Pigeons making the dark mass of the mangroves 
to appear as if covered with great white blossoms. The Lorikeets take 
longer to settle, rising again and again in vast flocks, whirling and screeching 
over the trees ; but when they are all settled, their voices are the first to 
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