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H. B. Scholz—The Splendid Parrakeet in Australia



never seen a bird like this I put it in a small aviary with a pair of

Canaries, with which it agreed quite well.


Some months later I happened to read in the Press about the very

rare Scarlet-chested Parrot being found again, after having been

thought extinct. I compared the bird (hen) I had with the description

and found it was Neophema splendida without a doubt. I let Mr. Simon

Harvey, a leading aviculturist of South Australia, know, and he made

a special trip of 400 miles by car to see it and ascertain if there were

any more here. I went out with him for a week, but we did not see any.

Last year I was determined to find them if there were any about,

so I went out from August to December and combed the district through,

and was successful in securing twelve. I particularly made a study

of their natural habits, sometimes lying for hours camouflaged with

mallee boughs to watch them feed. They only occur in isolated pairs,

never in flocks, and feed on the seeds of various native grasses and

small herbaceous plants. It was interesting to watch them eating

spear-grass seeds. They would wait until the wind would blow a stalk

towards them and then hold it down with one claw whilst they ate

the seeds. It has always been a problem as to how they obtained their

drink, as they do not come into the settled areas. I live right on the

fringe of the great heart of Australia, and north of me there is,

practically speaking, no civilization, and very little water is to be

found. I observed that they ran their beaks along the round leaves

of a small shrub and, on examining the leaves, I found by squeezing

they exuded about two drops of palatable juice. This, I presume,

is the secret of their water supply. I found four nests, usually about

8 feet from the ground. One contained three cock birds, another three

hen birds, another one hen bird, and the other a pair. I also caught

two hens and a cock bird (adult birds). I caught them on the nests

whilst feeding their young. I had no trouble in feeding the young,

using granose biscuit, scalded and sweetened with a little honey.

They build in a perpendicular hollow with a few dry leaves about

18 inches from the entrance. These birds live in the most God-forsaken

country it is possible to set eyes on, preferring sandhills and spinifex

country to the bigger timbered mallee country. One who is

inexperienced would never think of looking for birds where these are





