r 
LITTLE LORIKEET. 
Distribution. Queensland ; New South Wales ; Victoria ; Tasmania ; South Australia. 
Adult male. General colour above and below green ; mantle and a collar onthe hind -neck 
and sides of neck dusky, tinged with green ; inner webs of bastard -wing, primary - 
coverts, blackish-brown ; middle tail-feathers green, the outer ones red at the base 
and yellow on the apical portion ; crown of head and occiput bluish-green becoming 
emerald -green on the hinder face ; fore -head, forepart of face and sides of throat 
brick-red ; abdomen and inner under wing-coverts yellowish -green, the outer series 
of the latter darker ; thighs and under tail-coverts emerald -green ; greater series 
of the under wing-coverts and quill-lining dark brown ; lower aspect of tail red at 
the base and yellowish on the apical portion ; bill black, lower mandible browner ; 
eyes with pale yellow ring round the pupil, with a wider one of bright yellow ; 
feet dirty brown. Total length 167 mm. ; culmen 11, wing 102, tail 61, tarsus 9. 
Figured. Collected on the Barron River, North Queensland, on the 11th of 
January, 1913. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest. A hollow in a tree. 
Eggs. Clutch, three or four ; white. 19-21 mm. by 16-17. 
Breeding-season. August to December. 
In the “Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales,” published in 1790, White 
gave figures and descriptions of new or rare birds and to these attached Latin 
names. 
Thus a plate is given, opposite p. 262, of the Small Paroquet, and the 
description reads : “ Small Paroquet, Psittacus pusillus. Psittacus sub- 
macrourus viridus, capistro rectricumque, basi rubris. Cauda suhtus flavescens, 
basi rubra. Remiges latere interiore fuscse. Magnitudo Psittaci Porphy- 
rionis. Rostrum subflavescens, sew fusco-flavescens. Pedes subfusci. 
“ Green Paroquet, with somewhat lengthened tail ; the feathers round the 
beak and the base of the tail-feathers red. About the size of the violet- 
coloured Otaheite Paroquet. The beak is yellowish, or brownish-yellow. The 
feet dusky. The tail-feathers yellowish beneath, and red at the base. The 
wing feathers dusky on the interior margin.” 
Simultaneously Latham independently selected the same name fqr this 
bird. 
Mr. T. P. Austin’s notes read : “ The habits of this species are somewhat 
similar to G. concinnus, and they very often appear to arrive and feed 
together ; they are by nature an exceptionally tame bird and show very little 
fear of man ; when feeding they will allow people to walk within a few feet 
of them, and apparently take no notice. I have shot bird after bird in a fruit 
tree before any would attempt to fly, then suddenly the whole flock would fly 
practically instantaneously, and all of them uttering their screeching note, 
which is usually only continued until they are well on the wing in a compact 
flock. When nesting they are equally tame, in fact in some cases more so ; by 
throwing sticks into the nesting tree, a sitting bird will sometimes come to the 
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