SWIFT-PARROT. 
Batey (Emu, Vol. VII., p. 13, 1907) noted in Victoria : “ A frequent 
visitant. Some two years ago a large party came. Seems to diet extensively 
on the white waxy scales that abound on the leaves of the yellow box (eucalypt). 
Those scales have a sugary taste ; a small, soft insect is concealed under them.” 
It was rather a peculiar coincidence that attention should have been drawn 
in the South Australian Ornithologist , Vol. I., p. 17, July 1914, that this bird 
used to occur in that State simultaneously with its reappearance as recorded 
by Ashby in the next number, p. 21, and whose notes have been given above. 
Otherwise it appears to be exceedingly rare in New South Wales, and more 
common, though by no means now as plentiful as formerly, in Tasmania. 
I have no information that would lead me to conclude that it migrates from 
Tasmania to New South Wales, but rather the contrary, and I separated the 
Victorian bird subspecifically, uniting with this form the Tasmanian specimens. 
That would be more in accordance with the geography of the land, and the South 
Australian irruption recorded by Ashby would be of this form. 
