ROSELLA. 
constitute the peculiar and natural habitat of this bird. Like the Sparrow 
in England, this beautiful Parrakeet may constantly be seen resorting to the 
public roads, and upon being disturbed by the passer-by will merely fly off to 
the nearest tree, or to the rails of the wayside fences. Scenes like this fill the 
mind with sensations of no ordinary description, and excite the greatest 
astonishment in those who have recently arrived in the country ; the novelty, 
however, soon wears off, and a caged lark, linnet, or blackbird from the land 
of their birth are highly cherished and valued, while the beautiful productions 
of the island are passed by unheeded, except to deal out destruction among 
them, with no sparing hand, for some slight injury they may have inflicted 
upon the rising com. The above remarks refer more particularly to Tasmania, 
but apply with equal force to New South Wales, where the bird inhabits all the 
situations similar in character to those above referred to. It is found in great 
numbers in the district of the Upper Hunter, and was formerly very numerous 
at Paramatta, particularly in the neighbourhood of Rose Hill, whence its name. 
It breeds abundantly both in Tasmania and New South Wales, during October 
and the three following months and lays from seven to ten beautiful white 
eggs, one inch and an eighth long by seven-eighths of an inch broad, in the 
hollow of a gum-tree. The natural food of this bird consists of seeds of various 
kinds, particularly those of different grasses, and occasionally of insects and 
caterpillars. Its flight is short and undulating, and is rarely extended to a 
greater distance than a quarter of a mile, as the bird frequently alights on a 
leafless branch, always flying a little below it and rising again just before it 
settles. Its note is a somewhat pleasing whistling sound, which is very 
frequently uttered.” 
As a distinct species Gould described Platycerc'us splendidus writing: “ The 
lovely species here described was killed by Gilbert in the newly-located district 
to the northward of the Darling Downs in New South Wales. In beauty it 
even exceeds the common Rose-hill Parrakeet, and is consequently one of the 
finest species of the genus yet discovered. It differs from that bird in having 
the centre of the breast, only, of a rich scarlet, the sides being gamboge-yellow ; 
in the lower part of the abdomen and the upper tail-coverts being verditer 
instead of grass-green, and in the feathers of the back being broadly margined 
with rich gamboge instead of greenish-yellow. In the youthful state it very 
much resembles the P. palliceps, from which, however, it differs in having the 
head yellow instead of pale yellowish white, and the breast yellow instead of 
pale blue ; the breast also has indications of the rich scarlet of maturity, of 
which colour no trace is at any time perceptible in the P. palliceps .” 
Finsch and Ramsay regarded this as simply a varietal form of P. eximins , 
355 
