SWIFT-PARROT. 
attracted is the Eucalyptus gibbosus , cultivated specimens of which appear 
to have finer blossoms than those in their native forests. It is certainly the 
finest of the Eucalypti I have ever seen, and when its pendent branches are 
covered with thick clusters of pale yellow blossoms presents a most beautiful 
appearance ; these blossoms are so charged with saccharine matter that the 
birds soon fill themselves with honey even to their very throats ; several of 
those I shot, upon being held up by the feet, discharged from their mouths a 
stream of this liquid to the amount of a dessert-spoonful. Small flocks of from 
four to twenty in number are also frequently to be seen passing over the town, 
chasing each other, like the Swift of Europe, whence in all probability has 
arisen its colonial name. Sometimes these flights appear to be taken for the 
sake of exercise or in the mere playfulness of disposition, while at others the 
birds are passing from one garden to another, or proceeding from the town 
to the forests at the foot of Mount Wellington or vice versa. Their plumage 
so closely assimilates in colour to the leaves of the trees they frequent, and 
they moreover creep so quietly yet actively from branch to branch, clinging 
in every possible position, that were it not for their movements and the 
trembling of the leaves it would be difficult to perceive them without a minute 
examination of the tree upon which they have alighted. . . . The only part of 
New South Wales in which I have observed this bird was the district of the 
Upper Hunter, through which it periodically passes during the months of 
February and March.” 
Captain S. A. White has written me : “ This bird visits South Australia 
at long intervals and always when the Eucalypts are in flower. I have a 
specimen taken by my father and his brother in I860, and they both record 
that these birds were very numerous, for a short time, at the Reedbeds in 
that year. They have appeared every ten or fifteen years since then. Two 
or three years ago they appeared in great numbers in certain parts of the 
Mount Lofty Ranges, but did not remain very long in the district, nor did 
they come on to the plains. They are remarkably swift-flying birds and their 
note is much softer in its tone in comparison to that of most parrots.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has added : “ In June 1914 I first saw this parrot in 
the neighbourhood of Blackwood, South Australia (I believe the previous 
record for this state was in 1882, before I came to Australia) : they stayed 
with us till the middle of September and then absolutely disappeared. My 
first identification was on seeing the brilliant red of the underside of the wing 
as a pair flew over, and a few days later we got a few specimens out of a flock 
of about thirty. Subsequently I found that they roosted at night in some 
trees just opposite my house and they continued to do so during the few 
months they remained here. In the afternoon they were feeding in the tops 
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