GROUND PARROT. 
on the 31st October, 1886, for the nest of this species, but without success, 
and flushed these birds.” 
The best account of the species is that given by Whitlock in the Emu , 
Vol. XIII., 1914, pp. 203-205, when he recorded his search for the eggs of the 
Western form. I make the following extracts : “ It is absolutely the most 
silent and unobtrusive bird I have yet encountered in Western Australia. 
Occasionally one may unexpectedly flush an individual in some more or less 
frequented spot ; but as a rule to find these birds one must go to the 
undisturbed flats and systematically tramp through all the closely growing 
vegetation, and, if in luck, an odd bird, or at times even a pair, may be 
flushed, with a startling suddenness, into a flight of 40 or 50 yards, when they 
drop into the herbage again just as suddenly as they rose. I have never seen 
this species fly at a greater height than 8 or 9 feet. The flight is slightly 
undulatory, but very different to that of ordinary Parrots, the wings being 
very rapidly beaten at intervals, with periods of gliding flight more like that 
of a Quail between, the tips of the wings pointed downwards like that of the 
latter bird. It never flies any great distance, and when about to alight appears 
to fall headlong to the ground. Usually it can be flushed again if followed 
immediately, as it does not appear to run along after alighting. Once or 
twice I have been able to watch a bird at close quarters. Despite its long 
legs, it does not appear very active on the ground, but it certainly moves with 
more grace and greater ease than the average Parrot, the awkward, waddling 
gait of the latter being quite absent.” A full account of the nest and eggs 
followed, but this item may be quoted : “ The early settlers in this district 
tell me this species is not so frequently seen as formerly. Common, in the 
true sense of the term, I can hardly believe it ever was, and with the numbers 
of large lizards haunting the flats, the wonder is it has not been exterminated 
years ago. Mr. James Knapp attributes the diminishing numbers of these 
beautiful Parrots to Quail-shooters ; but there are many square nliles of 
flats as absolutely undisturbed now as they were fifty years ago. Bush 
fires are probably more frequent now than formerly, and in dry seasons 
there may be some destruction of young not yet strong enough on the 
wing to escape.” 
No subspecies appear to have been indicated until 1911, though in 1891 
Salvadori noted : “ The Tasmanian birds are darker and greener.” In 1911 
North wrote: “Specimens from Western Australia may readily be distinguished 
from examples procured in Eastern Australia by the broken barrings on the 
under surface, the centre of the lower breast and abdomen being yellow. This 
is very pronounced in adult specimens in the Australian Museum Collection, 
obtained by Mr. George Masters at King George’s Sound, Western Australia, 
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