Vol. XXIV. 
1925 
DOVE, Rare Birds in Tasmania 
281 
describing various species seen during his visit, including Dusky 
Fantails (Rhipiditra diemenensis) and Flame-breasted Robins 
(Petroica phcenicea ), he says: “A flock of six Orange-bellied 
Grass Parrakeets (Neophema chrysogastra) paid a short visit; 
they were seen to arrive from the seaward side, and after a short 
rest departed for Tasmania/’ This was in 1910 , exact date not 
given, but about the end of September. 
My own notes record a small party of twelve individuals of 
this Grass Parrot in a weedy garden beside Chinaman’s Creek, 
which adjoins Devonport town on the south; they were feeding 
eagerly on the seeds in the grass and weed tangle, and had 
probably only recently arrived. This was in the afternoon of 
5 th August, 1918 , the very year in which Dr. Morgan recorded 
their reappearance in South Australia; my note says that the 
wind was south-east, light, and sky cloudy, at the time. These 
were the first of the species I had seen in Devonport, although 
the previous summer, when driving with a friend through the 
Has ford district, a few miles to the eastward, between the 
Mersey and Port Sorell, and not far from the latter, I noticed 
several feeding in a paddock of short grass, and got out of the 
vehicle to identify them. 
Ground-Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus ).—When I first settled 
in the bush near Table Cape, North-west Tasmania, more than 
thirty years ago, I frequently flushed these birds when riding 
across a plain which lay between my small homestead and the 
nearest township. This plain was dry and sandy in summer, 
very swampy in winter, and covered with large clumps of button 
grass (Gymnoschoenus sphcerocephalus ), the round seed-heads 
of which are elevated on long stems; the Parrots would rise 
from one of these clumps as the horse approached, fly perhaps 
30 or 40 yards, and plump down into another clump. They 
usually flushed singly; I never saw them in parties like the 
Grass Parrot just described, and as it was always towards the 
end of summer (February and March) when I saw them, they 
probably lived on the seeds of the button grass. The Parrot family 
seems partial to seeds of this kind; another great clump which 
grew plentifully in the district and bore its seed on a tall spike, 
is locally known as cutting-grass, and botanically as Cahnia 
psittacoruin or Parrot Gahnia. 
The plain to which the Ground-Parrots resorted is near the 
township, and is now largely built upon; quite possibly they 
may still be found on similar plains which have not been in¬ 
terfered with. I used to regard them as migrants, as they 
seemed to clear right away before winter. The flight cer¬ 
tainly appears feeble, but we cannot judge a bird’s migratory 
powers by its performance on land. The Bronze Cuckoos seem 
to have very small dying power, yet the Shining Bronze 
(Lamprococcyx lucidus) makes the journey regularly from 
tropical Australia to New Zealand. Sir Walter Buller says he 
kept a register at Wellington for ten years of its periodical 
