PURPLE-CROWNED LORIKEET. 
In South Australia it is still numerous, as Mr. Sandland in 1909 wrote 
me: “Very common at Balah. Took nine nests last season (1908), every 
one containing three eggs, except one which had four.” Mr. Edwin Ashby 
at the same time wrote: “These birds are here (Blackwood, South Australia) 
in great numbers this year, but they visit the neighbourhood every year when 
the gums or Peppermint gums flower.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has given me the following observations : “ This is a 
common Lorikeet about Adelaide all the year round, where it is known as the 
Blue-crowned Lorikeet, although I have not seen it breed in the Adelaide 
Plains, but it breeds in the Flinders Range in the North. They fly in small 
flocks about the gum trees, uttering a sharp, short little screech as they wheel 
about on the wing, the flock being worked so systematically by the leader that 
in an instant the whole flock will turn or swoop up or down, as if all con- 
nected by string and forming one piece of material. They will settle in a 
flowering gum, chattering all the while as they cling in the slender twigs and 
branches and suck out the sweet nectar from the flowers ; they are extremely 
animated, being sometimes on their feet, and the next moment upside down 
with their heads hanging beneath some honey-laden flower, extracting the 
sweet fluid with great rapidity, and while doing this they are extremely 
interesting to watch. It is only in the breeding-season that they are in pairs, 
going into small flocks as soon as the young come out of the nests.” 
Mr. Tom Carter’s notes on the Western form read : “ This species was 
never observed by me in Mid-west Australia, but occurs commonly at Keller- 
berin, about one hundred miles inland, and a little north of Perth, and from 
there southwards to the Southern Ocean through all the timbered districts. 
The chief food is honey, obtained from the blossoms of the various Eucalyptus 
trees. When these blossoms are numerous in the summer months, the upper 
parts of the gum trees simply swarm with these birds, busily feeding in every 
attitude, and keeping up a constant chattering noise. In seasons when 'the 
blossoms are scarce, very few of the birds are seen. They fly in flocks at a 
great speed, making a loud whizzing noise when passing overhead. Many 
birds are killed by flying against wire and netting fences, and it was quite a 
common occurrence on my Broome Hill Station to find several dead in the 
course of a morning’s ride along some of my fences, or around the sides of the 
netted fowl run. Many birds also become intoxicated by the honey, and are 
found in a helpless condition on the ground. The breeding-season seems to be 
mostly in September and October. Many young birds were observed in 
November.” 
Mr. A. W. Milligan in the Emu , Vol. II., p. 74, 1902, recorded : “ I 
observed several of these birds on my first visit at Cowaramup Brook (West 
55 
