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Sydney Porter—Notes from Australia



as the birds feed. It is surprising what acid and extremely astringent

fruits Parrots will eat. Rowan berries are especially bitter and astringent

but they are greatly relished by the birds.


Unfortunately these lovely Parrakeets are considered a pest for

the damage they do to the fruit crops, especially apples, and are shot

at every opportunity by the farmers and the fruit growers. In some

districts they are shot and made into pies. At the house where I am

staying the birds even come into the horse’s manger and eat the corn,

and one day, says the owner, she’ll have to shoot them. So tame and

plentiful are the birds in the timbered districts that they are found

in dozens around the timber-felling camps, and in the winter when food

is short the birds feed from the horses’ mangers, getting so tame that

the birds and horses feed together. Of all the Parrakeets which I saw

wild in Australia I think this one the most beautiful. Its habitat seems

to enhance its beauty, for it lives mainly in the shady groves and deep

forests where its brilliant plumage makes a startling contrast to the

sombre greenery.


Another gorgeous bird was the King Parrakeet, which was fairly

plentiful around the house in the forest. They were the first Parrakeets

I saw there, but they were not nearly as numerous or as familiar as

the foregoing bird, which stayed around the house all day. How lovely

they looked against the dark greenery of the forest trees. They were

a great menace to the fruit and devoured all and sundry, but what

amazed me was their predilection for potatoes. It was impossible to

dig these up and leave them while one went for a meal, for the birds

were sure to find them and not being content with one or two would

bite up the whole lot; they are also one of the few birds which will eat

tomatoes, and they do a great deal of damage where these are grown.

They prove a pest in the fruit-growing districts, eating the unripe

apples and pears ; they are also very fond of the sweet or Spanish

chestnut.


These birds, like the last-mentioned species, look very lovely when

flying through the forests, but they do not seem to come down as low

as the Pennants. The light green wing coverts always look particularly

brilliant when the birds are in flight. There were a lot in captivity

in the Colin McKenzie Reserve at Healsville. They were in a large



