J. F. M. Floyd—The Orange-bellied Grass Parrot 215


After dinner the time was spent overhauling all the devices which

are part and parcel of any attempt to catch birds.


Next morning we arose at 4 a.m. and stayed in the hide until

9 a.m. The only exciting incident occurred when, on walking up the

hill, I nearly trod on a 4 ft. Black Snake which one would hardly

expect to meet at that chilly hour of the morning, I killed him with

a piece of fencing wire which was lying handy and kept a sharp look

out while hiding in the bushes. Not a bird was seen or heard and at

9 a.m. we adjourned for breakfast.


After breakfast it commenced to rain and continuing all day

managed to register 2 inches. That settled all bird catching and

later in the afternoon I went for a drive out to a station about 10

miles away to see if the people there had ever seen any of these Parrots.

On the way we flushed twenty-five in a new spot and decided to try

our luck there the next morning.


Awake again at 4 a.m. and off to the new ground—into the hide

after seeing that all preparations were made, and at 6.20 we heard

the Zit-Zit of approaching Neophema. Twrn landed close to me—

within 12 feet, and as I had a good look at them I thought the old

heart wmuld burst with excitement.


Unless you have tried trapping birds you could never realize what

one goes through w'hen the longed for bird arrives within range of

one’s nets, I was able to observe the birds closely and the bottle green

back and wing feathers were very noticeable and very different

from the Elegant, Blue wing, and Rock Parrot shade. These two

birds fed on some fine native grass seeds, the grass being about

3 inches high.


Dandelions were also very numerous and as the sun was behind

clouds, these were closed up. I was interested to see these birds

nibbling at the closed dandelion heads and as they had now worked

to within 5 feet of my hide, there could be no mistake about this.


Can you imagine how still one has to keep in a flimsy hide of bushes

when the birds are as close as that ?


Cramp—rheumatism—sitting on the wrong leg or w’ith one foot

asleep are all in the day’s work, and the pain must be endured

until the birds are caught or have flown away. At 6.50 one



