MUSK LORIKEET. 
and caught by means of a captive call bird in a cage and a snare pole. The 
trap consists of a long pole about twenty feet long, which is placed in a socket, 
and has at the top one or two thin forked limbs, which fairly bristled with 
horse-hair nooses. A pulley is usually attached, so that the cage containing 
the call or decoy bird can be lowered as required. Three seasons in particular, 
during my residence in Ashfield and Canterbury, the Musk Lorikeets were 
unusually numerous, from the end of January to the middle of April, 1889, 
1893 and 1896. From my notebook I make the following extract of one 
season : ‘18th March, 1893. For the past five weeks large flocks of Gbssop - 
sittacus concinnus have been passing over Ashfield and all the western suburbs, 
thousands of which have been caught by means of snare poles. It seems 
strange that these birds, when once they alight on one of these poles, 
repeatedly come back until they are eventually entangled in one of the many 
horse-hair nooses with which the forked extremity of the snare pole is covered. 
These poles may be seen as one passes through Parramatta to Petersham, 
even from the window of a railway carriage, and are usually erected in yards 
or gardens, and attended to by schoolchildren or the average boy. The 
number caught in a day varies ; I met one boy who informed me that he 
had caught one hundred and twenty, but even in a good season the average 
all through would be about ten a day. In M. Octave Le Bon’s bird shop 
I heard many inquiries if he wanted to purchase “ keets ” from men, women 
and boys, but he was not disposed to, even at one shilling and sixpence per 
dozen. The mortality amongst these birds must be very great, as one seldom 
sees them in captivity in winter or spring.’ ” 
Mr. G. A. Keartland’s notes follow : “ During the summer and autumn 
months Ghssopsittacus concinnus is to be found in large flocks wherever the 
Eucalypts are in blossom, but in the latter part of spring they are generally seen 
in pairs. Sometimes several pairs breed in the same tree. Of late they have 
taken a fancy to fruit, and become a serious pest to orchardists, who often resort 
to poison to get rid of them, as shooting fails to scare them away. I have seen 
as many as fifty-six shot off one large tree, without the rest of the flock taking 
alarm. One fruit grower at Wandin, Victoria, who laid poisoned grain, gathered 
two wheel-barrowsful of them from under his fruit trees two weeks in succession 
without any apparent diminution in their numbers. Nestlings thrive well on a 
mixed diet of bread and sugar and canary seed, and when six months old will 
repeat several short sentences. They are the best talkers amongst our small 
Psittaci, but seldom live long in confinement.” 
Dr. W. A. Angove, from Tea Tree Gully, South Australia, confirmed the 
above thus : “ Gbssopsittacus concinnus is most abundant, at times the whole 
district being alive with them. They follow the flowering of the Gums, 
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