BLUE-BANDED GRASS PARRAKEET .—EupMmia Chrysostoma . 
The Blue-banded Grass Parrakeet is also a native of Australia; and is 
not uncommon in the locality which it inhabits. 
It is a summer visitant to Van Diemen’s Land, where it remains from Sep- 
tember to Eebruary or March. Thickly -wooded places are its only haunts, as it 
feeds almost wholly on seeds and grasses ; and it is generally seen on the ground, 
unless it has been alarmed. 
It congregates in flocks, and appears to have but little fear of danger, and but 
very odd notions of placing itself in safety ; for, as soon as a flock is alarmed, 
all the birds flutter into the air, screaming feebly, and, after flying for a hundred 
yards or so, again alight. During the short time that they are on the wing, their 
flight is rapid, and very irregular, like that of the snipe. 
The eggs of this bird are six or seven in number, and are mostly laid in the 
hole of a decaying gum-tree. 
166 
