YELLO W-B UMPED PAR.RAKEET. 
9 
in its native land, is surely rather extraordinary, especially as it is 
frequently kept as a cage-pet by the colonists, and being a grass-seed 
feeder is by no means difficult to preserve in captivity. 
It was described by Latham, but the engraving accompanying his 
text is very distorted, and conveys an exceedingly poor idea of the 
bird, which is really a handsome creature. 
In his great work, The Birds of Australia, Gould describes this 
species with his usual felicity, and gives a graphic portrait of it: it 
is to be regretted that so little is known of this charming Parrakeet 
in this country, for it is hardy, lively, and beautiful, not too noisy, 
as Parrakeets go, and susceptible of being rendered very tame; its 
capacities for the acquisition of knowledge are not very great, but a 
young male brought up from the nest will learn to repeat a few short 
words about as well as the Rosella. 
In the vast primeval forests of the Great Southern Land the Yellow- 
rumped Parrakeet is at home, and, of course, seen and heard too, to 
the best advantage; the glaucous green of the foliage of the Eucalypti 
forms a not inharmonious contrast to the golden yellow shades of his 
plumage, and his cries pass unnoticed amid the concert of Nature 
which they contribute to maintain; in confinement, however, he is as 
we have said, not inordinately noisy, and may be kept in a parlour 
without fear of any one being driven out of the house by his cries. 
In its native woods this bird breeds in the hollow limbs of trees, 
a rule to which we know of no exception in Australia, save that of 
Pezoporu s formosus, making no nest, but depositing its eggs on the 
bare wood; it is shy, however, and the nest is difficult to be discovered, 
and more difficult still to be plundered, when long and careful watching 
has revealed its site, which is so carefully selected as to be almost 
inaccessible to man or beast. The breeding season extends from 
September to February, and there are, usually, two broods in the 
season, of four or five young ones, which remain in company with the 
parents until the following spring, when they separate, and each pair 
sets up housekeeping on its own account. 
It is curious to mark the resemblances that approximate the different 
kinds of Parrots to each other, no less than to consider the distinctions 
by which they are differentiated, and to observe by what strong evi- 
dence it is shown that they must all have been formed upon one 
oi'iginal plan, rather than, as the Evolutionists say, have descended, 
in the lapse of ages, from a common ancestor. That “lapse of ages’’’ 
is a very handy bridge to get over a difficulty on : but which was the 
common ancestor? was it a Macaw, or a Madagascar Love-bird? a 
Grey Parrot, or a Budgerigar? 
