BLUE MOUNTAIN LOBY. 
41 
for six years in the aviary of a friendj 'laying several eggs,[j though 
kept singly”, tells us that it was fed on, “besides canary-seed and 
maize, a little sugar, with occasionally a morsel of raw_beef_ scraped 
very fine, and mixed with scraped carrot.” 
Insect food seems to ns to bo indispensable for the well-being of 
these birds, and in addition to the dietary prescribed by Dr._E,uss and 
Mr. Wiener, we would recommend mealworms and ants^ eggs, or, failing 
these, gentles well scoured in bran; the latter insects are readily ob- 
tainable, and may be kept in the pupa stage all through the winter 
in a cellar, or cool plant-house, buried in sand. 
Like all the Parrot family these Lories breed in hollow boughs, 
where the female deposits from three to four white eggs, about the 
same size as those of the Cockatiol, upon which she sits for twenty- 
one days; the young, from the first, resemble their parents closely, 
but are a trifle less brilliantly coloured. 
“The Bine Mountain Lory is an extremely active, graceful, and hand- 
some bird, but has a most abominable shriek”, says Dr. Russ; a 
statement which Mr. Wiener corroborates in the following terms: — 
“''His noise, howevei’, is nearly as disagreeable as his plumage is 
beautiful.” While Mr. Gedney, on the conti’ary, declares that it “has 
a soft agreeable note, and seldom indulges in any objectionable noises.” 
For our own part we agree with the former, rather than with the 
last testimony as to the vocal powers, or abilities of the Blue Moun- 
tain, whose voice we consider to be particularly harsh and uupleasing; 
but of course tastes differ, and a note that jars unpleasantly on one 
man’s ear, may have an agreeable and soothing effect upon another. 
We look upon these birds as most decidedly quarrelsome, and unfit 
to be trusted in a mixed company. Dr. Russ, however, considers that 
“in a bird-room with small birds they are not dangerous, but they 
must not be kept with other Parrots.” 
Like most Parrots,” says Mr. Wiener, in this connection, “the Blue 
Mountain Lory can only be kept with other Parrots at considerable 
risk, and I had to learn that two males put in one cage under the 
impression of being a pair can kill each other.” 
Mr. Gedney again seems to have been peculiarly happy in his speci- 
mens, for of them he remarks, “But for the terribly sudden death 
which so soon overtakes these birds, they would be the most charming 
feathered pets that a lady could possess, for they have neither the 
power nor the inclination to bite savagely.” 
The same writer’s recommendation to feed this Lory “exclusively 
upon soft food, in which honey forms a prominent part”, doubtless 
in great measure accounts for his advice to those of his readers “whose 
