Vol 'i924 1V ‘ ] EDWARDS, Notes on the Ground Parrot. 35 
be open to disturbance, and most of our shy birds would not 
settle there. 
I would also suggest that a bird sanctuary of one mile be 
made around all country schools. This would stop a lot of the 
nest-robbing by small boys. Also if members of the R.A.O.U. 
had the same power to prosecute as is possessed by members of 
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, it would 
enable members to stop much of the shooting during closed 
seasons. If additional copies of The Emu were printed and 
placed on sale at bookstalls, they would interest the general 
public, and inform them of what is being done by the R.A.O.U. 
and other societies. At present The Emu is not known at most 
bookstalls. A gentleman told me recently that he tried all the 
bookstalls in Sydney, but the officers in charge said they knew 
nothing of such a magazine, and even said that no such magazine 
existed. How can we expect the public to be interested while 
we are working behind a screen ? 
Notes on The Ground Parrot 
By H. V. EDWARDS, R.A.O.U., Bega, N.S.W. 
My acquaintance with the Ground Parrot (Pezoporus walli- 
cus ) began about the year 1884, at which period, though never 
apparently numerous, it might usually be flushed from the long 
coarse grass and tussocks which then covered most of the gul¬ 
lies and flats of the Kameruka Estate, in the Bega district on the 
far south coast of New South Wales. The bird also haunted 
the swamps, and was occasionally discovered among bracken on 
the hillsides, but kept mainly to the denser cover, unless disturbed 
and driven to take shelter elsewhere. It was most commonly 
found singly, although at times a couple of birds might be driven 
from the same patch of cover. This Parrot rarely flies far, and 
after covering a short distance in jerky, hesitating flight, plumps 
back into cover, much as a Quail does. During a day's Quail 
shooting a few Ground-Parrots were almost invariably flushed 
or were seen at times only a few yards in front of one's feet, 
running silently through the tussocks, as they are loath to take 
wing if they can escape by this means. These birds carry a 
strong scent, and dogs set them as they do Quail. On one or 
two occasions I found the dull-white eggs two in number, lying 
on bare, damp earth beneath the shelter of a tussock, without 
the slightest pretence of the formation of a nest. In those un¬ 
regenerate days beautiful and always more or less rare birds 
like the Ground-Parrot were very commonly shot and added to 
the bag. 
Personally I have never seen the Ground-Parrot perch — even 
momentarily, on tussocks or elsewhere, but Horace Wheelwright 
