THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
name two years previously. The next year Shaw and Nodder in the 
Naturalists’ Miscellany figured and described the species with the name 
Psittacus concinnus. A few years later Le Vaillant figured it, under a vernacular 
name only, in his Monograph on the Parrots, and to this figure two 
later names were given, viz., Psittacus rubrifrons by Bechstein in 1811 and 
Psittacus velatus by Vieillot in 1817. Since that time no synonyms have 
been added. 
Mr. T. P. Austin has forwarded me the following note : “ The usual 
food of this species appears to he the nectar of the flowering Eucalypts ; 
when these trees are in flower these birds arrive in thousands, and are to be 
seen hanging on to the extreme ends of the branches, mostly with their heads 
pointing to the ground and their tails straight upwards. Some seasons great 
numbers of them breed here in any suitable hollow they can find, but they 
seem to prefer a living red gum tree growing on the bank of a river, but if 
such a situation is not available they will nest in any suitable hollow they 
can find, but not as a rule far away from water. Why this should be I have 
never been able to discover, as I have never seen them drinking, and doubt 
very much if they ever do so. They usually commence nesting early in 
August, and although I have examined a great number of their nests, I have 
never found more than two eggs or young in a clutch. Considering the vast 
numbers of them that arrive here in suitable seasons, usually about March, it is 
a very small percentage of them that remain here to breed. Some seasons very 
few, if any, come at all ; last year I noticed only a few pairs and this year 
(1915) so far I have not seen a single bird. In some districts I believe they 
are very destructive on fruit, but here (Cobbora, New South Wales) I have 
never seen a single bird in my orchard, and yet just over the fence I have 
seen them in the Eucalypt trees in hundreds, and plenty of fruit in my orchard 
at the time.” 
Mr. A. G. Campbell wrote me : “ An exceptionally dry spring, when food 
became scarce, drove myriads of this species and G. porphyrocephalus to the 
vicinity of Melbourne in January 1896. Much damage was done to orchard 
fruits, and the blossoms of Eucalypts, like Blue gums and sugar gums, planted 
in the gardens were eagerly sought.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has written me : “ Flocks of these birds visited Black- 
wood, South Australia, in the autumn of 1908, and did a great deal of damage 
in the orchard, especially to the pears, which seem their favourite fruit ; they 
then disappeared for a fortnight or more, no doubt following the ripening of 
the fruit in the higher ranges, but by 10th May they had returned in large 
flocks and were in the blue gums collecting honey from the flowers, the same 
as the other three species of Lorikeets.” 
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