Part 7

This bird is a summer resident in Van Diemen’s Land, arriving in September and departing again in February and March. During its sojourn it takes up its abode in such open and thinly-timbered localities as are favourable for the growth of various kinds of grasses, upon the seeds of which it almost solely subsists. Among the places in which I observed it to be most abundant were Bruni Island, Sandy Bay immediately adjoining Hobart Town, New Norfolk, Spring Hill in the interior, the banks of the Tamar, and on Flinder’s Island in Bass’s Straits. At Spring Hill, in the month of January, it was more numerous and congregated in larger flocks than in any other locality I had visited, flights being constantly passing backwards and forwards from the hills to the margins of some cultivated lands from which the corn had recently been carried, the borders of which not having been disturbed were clothed with abundance of grasses in full seed. A great number of those seen here and at Flinder’s Island were young birds which were doubtless congregating previous to their autumnal migration; the direction they take, or the country they proceed to, is still a matter of uncertainty: in all probability they pass directly northwards to some part of the Australian continent, but I was unable to satisfy myself on this point, or to obtain any decided information respecting them, and I never even saw the species on the mainland.

The Blue-banded Grass-Parrakeet is one of the most beautiful and interesting of the _Psittacidæ_; for whether perched on the small dead branches of a low bush, which it often is, or resting upon the stronger grasses, as represented in the Plate, there is grace and elegance in all its actions. It runs over the ground and threads its way among the grasses with the greatest facility, and is usually so intent upon gathering the seeds, as to admit of your walking close up to a flock before it will rise; the whole will then get up simultaneously, uttering at the same time a feeble cry and settling again at a short distance, or flying off to some thickly-foliaged tree, where it sits for a time and then descends again to the ground.

Its flight is remarkably quick, and is performed in a manner somewhat resembling that of the Snipe; while on the wing the deep blue colouring of the shoulder forms a conspicuous contrast to the yellow and green of the body.

The breeding-season is at its height in October and November; the eggs, as I have been informed, being usually deposited in the holes of the _Eucalypti_, but occasionally in the hollow trunks of the fallen trees: they vary from five to seven in number, and are perfectly white.

The sexes present no observable difference; but the young, like those of the _Platycerci_, have the bill and nostrils of a delicate yellow, the band on the forehead less conspicuous, and the plumage, although with the same tints as in the adult, much less brilliant in its colouring.

Like nearly all the other members of the family, it is capable of perfect domestication, and a more elegant or beautiful pet can scarcely be conceived; and that it would thrive in this country is certain, as I had a living example in my possession a few years since which was remarkably healthy and active.

A conspicuous band of deep indigo-blue across the forehead, bordered above by a narrow edging of light metallic blue; lores, and a stripe behind the eye, rich yellow; crown of the head, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, throat, chest and flanks brownish olive-green; shoulders and wing-coverts deep blue; primaries black, the outer edges of the first three or four slightly tinged with bluish green; centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts yellow; four middle tail-feathers greenish blue; the basal portions of the remainder beautiful blue on their outer edges, and largely tipped with fine yellow; irides, bill and feet brown.

The figures are of the natural size.

EUPHEMA ELEGANS, _Gould_. Elegant Grass-Parrakeet.

_Nanodes elegans_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. 1837, p. 25.—Ib. Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.

_Gool-ye-der-ung_, Aborigines of the lowlands of Western Australia.

_Ground Parrakeet_, of the Colonists.

Although closely resembling in size and form the Blue-banded Grass-Parrakeet, this species differs in several minor particulars. The green colouring of its plumage is of a more golden hue; the blue frontal band extends behind the eye, while in the former it reaches no farther than the front: the difference in the colouring of the wings of the two species is also strongly marked, that part in the one being wholly blue, while in the other all the shoulders and portions near the scapularies are green.

As far as I could learn, the present species is never seen in Van Diemen’s Land, while the Blue-banded is a constant summer visitant to that island; neither is it a common bird in New South Wales, its visits to that country being quite accidental. I found it abundant in South Australia, even in the depth of winter, and I have since received its eggs from the same country, as well as from King George’s Sound and Swan River; we may therefore reasonably suppose it ranges over all the intermediate country, and that it is there a permanent resident.

It appears to prefer the barren and sandy belts bordering the coast, but occasionally resorts to the more distant interior. Flocks were constantly rising before me while traversing the salt marshes, which stretch along the coast from Holdfast Bay to the Port of Adelaide; they were feeding upon the seeds of grasses and various other plants, which were there abundant: in the middle of the day, or when disturbed, they retreat to the thick _Banksias_ that grow on the sandy ridges in the immediate neighbourhood, and in such numbers, that I have seen those trees literally covered with them, intermingled with the orange-breasted species (_E. aurantia_), which, however, was far less numerous. When they rise, they spread out and display their beautiful yellow tail-feathers to the greatest advantage.

The following account of this species, as observed in Western Australia, has been sent me by Mr. John Gilbert:

“It inhabits every variety of situation, but particularly where there is an abundance of grass, the seeds of which are its favourite food: it may be generally observed in small families until the hottest part of the year, when the courses being dried up, water only remains in small pools; these birds then congregate in almost incredible numbers morning and evening. At Kojenup, where there are several pools, and no other water for many miles round, I saw these birds in myriads; but although I shot a great many, they were nearly all young birds. Its flight is rapid and even, and frequently at considerable altitudes. The breeding season is in September and October; the eggs being from four to seven in number,” of a pure white, eleven lines long, by eight and a half lines broad.

A bar of deep indigo-blue across the forehead, bordered above by a narrow edging of light metallic blue, which is continued over the eye; lores rich yellow; head, cheeks, scapularies, back and upper shoulders greenish blue; secondaries deep blue, edged with lighter; primaries black, the first three or four edged externally with greenish blue; tail-coverts golden olive-green; throat and chest greenish yellow, passing into bright yellow on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; the centre of the abdomen tinged with orange; two middle tail-feathers greenish blue, the remainder blue at the base, and largely tipped with yellow; irides very dark brown; bill dark brown, lighter on the under side; legs and feet dull brown.

The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size, on a branch of the _Pittosporum_.

EUPHEMA AURANTIA, _Gould_. Orange-bellied Grass-Parrakeet.

_Euphema aurantia_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Nov. 10, 1840.

Although the present bird is not so elegant in form, nor graced with so brilliant a frontal band as several others of the group, it has received an ample compensation in the rich orange mark that adorns the under surface, a character by which it may be distinguished from every other known species. Like the _Euphema chrysostoma_, it is a summer visitant to Van Diemen’s Land, and they may sometimes be found associating together; still I have obtained specimens in localities where I believe the other is never seen. I observed it sparingly dispersed in the neighbourhood of Hobart Town and New Norfolk, but found it in far greater abundance on the Actæon Islands, at the entrance of D’Entrecasteaux Channel. These small islands are covered with grasses and scrub, intermingled with a quantity of a species of Barilla, nearly allied to _Atriplex halimus_; and almost the only land-bird that enlivens these solitary spots is the present beautiful Parrakeet: I frequently flushed small flocks of them from among the grass, when they almost immediately alighted on the barilla bushes around me, their sparkling orange bellies forming a striking contrast with the green of the other parts of their plumage and the silvery foliage of the plant upon which they rested. I made many attempts to discover their breeding places, but always unsuccessfully; as however these islands are destitute of large trees, I am induced to believe that they lay their eggs in holes on the ground, or among the stones on the shore. When I thoroughly disturbed them they flew off to the neighbouring islands, or to the main land, uttering a singular snapping note, very unlike that of their associates, the _Euphema chrysostoma_. On visiting South Australia in winter, I there found it equally abundant on the flat, marshy grounds bordering the coast, especially between the Port of Adelaide and Holdfast Bay. Specimens collected in winter and summer, and in localities distant from each other, present no difference whatever in their plumage.

It may be a casual visitor to New South Wales and Swan River, but I have not yet seen it in any collections from those parts of Australia.

Frontal band blue, margined before and behind with a very faint line of greenish blue; crown of the head and all the upper surface deep grass-green; shoulders, many of the secondaries, and outer edges of the primaries deep indigo-blue; lores, cheeks and breast yellowish green, passing into greenish yellow on the abdomen and under tail-coverts, the centre of the abdomen being ornamented with a large spot of rich orange; two centre tail-feathers green; the next on each side blackish brown on the inner, and green on the outer webs; the remainder blackish brown on their inner, and green on their outer webs, and largely tipped with bright yellow; irides very dark brown; bill dark brown, becoming lighter on the under side; legs and feet dull brown.

The female possesses the orange spot in common with the male, although, in her case, it is neither so extensive nor so brilliant.

The figures represent a male and a female, on a branch of the Barilla plant, of the natural size.

EUPHEMA PETROPHILA, _Gould_. Rock Grass-Parrakeet.

_Euphema petrophila_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 148.

_Rock Parrakeet_, Colonists of Swan River.

Independently of the difference in the colouring of the face of this species, it differs also from all the other members of the genus in its habits; for although, like them, it obtains its food on the ground, feeding on the seeds of the various grasses that grow over nearly the whole surface of Australia, it is far more partial to rocky situations than to trees. I have received specimens of this bird from Port Lincoln in South Australia, but its great stronghold appears to be the western coast, where it occurs in great numbers on Rottnest and other islands near Swan River: “Here,” says Mr. Gilbert, “it breeds in the holes of the most precipitous cliffs, choosing in preference those facing the water and most difficult of access; and hence it required no slight degree of exertion to procure examples of the eggs, which, according to the testimony of the natives, are white and seven or eight in number.

“Its flight is extremely rapid, and at times it mounts to a great height in the air.”

The sexes are nearly alike in colour and may be thus described:—

Frontal band deep indigo-blue, bounded before and behind with a very narrow line of dull verditer-blue; lores and circle surrounding the eye dull verditer-blue; all the upper surface yellowish olive-green; under surface the same, but lighter, and passing into yellow, tinged with orange on the lower part of the abdomen; under surface of the shoulder indigo-blue; a few of the wing-coverts greenish blue; primaries brownish black on their inner webs, and deep indigo-blue on the outer; two centre tail-feathers bluish green; the remainder of the feathers brown at the base on the inner webs, green at the base on the outer webs, and largely tipped with bright yellow; irides very dark brown; upper mandible dark reddish brown; sides of the under mandible light yellow, the tip bluish grey; legs and feet dark brownish grey.

The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.

EUPHEMA PULCHELLA, _Wagler_. Chestnut-shouldered Grass-Parrakeet.

_Psittacus pulchellus_, Shaw, Nat. Misc., pl. 96.—Ib. Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 470.—Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 122.—Swains. Zool. Ill. Birds, 1st Ser. pl. 73.—Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. 21.—Kuhl, Nova Acta, vol. x. p. 50.

_Turcosine Parrakeet_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 89.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 185.

_La Perruche Edwards_, Le Vaill. Hist. des Perr., p. 68, female.

_Psittacus chrysogaster_, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 97.

_Orange-bellied Parrot_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., p. 62.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 186.

_Orange-bellied Parrakeet_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 468.

_Psittacus Edwardsii_, Bechst. in Lath. Uebers. der Vog., p. 74.

_Nanodes pulchellus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 277.—Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiv. p. 118.

_Lathamus azureus_, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 205.

_Euphema pulchella_, Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., pp. 493 and 542.

All those who have traversed the “bush” in New South Wales will recognize in this lovely species an old favourite; during my own rambles my attention was constantly attracted by its beautiful outspread tail and wings as it rose before me. Its sole food being the seeds of grasses and of the smaller annuals, it spends much of its time on the ground, and appears to evince a greater partiality for stony ridges than for the rich alluvial flats, which is probably owing to the former producing a greater supply of its favourite food. When flushed it flies off to a short distance between the trees, perches on some dead branch for a time, and if impelled by hunger, returns to the ground almost immediately. I have never seen this species congregated in large flocks like the _Euphema chrysostoma_ and _E. elegans_; but have either met with it in pairs, or in small companies of six or eight in number.

I did not succeed in finding a nest of this species, although I doubt not that during my visit to the district of the Upper Hunter it was breeding everywhere around me; but Mr. Caley states, on the authority of the natives, that it lays eight white eggs in the hole of a tree without any nest but the decayed wood.

The sexes differ so little in colour, that dissection must be resorted to to distinguish them.

Forehead, stripe over the eye, cheeks, shoulders, and lesser wing-coverts rich metallic greenish blue; crown of the head, back of the neck, upper surface and flanks bright olive-green; a bright spot of chestnut-red at the insertion of the wings; primaries and secondaries deep blue on their outer webs, and blackish brown on the inner; chest, centre of the abdomen, and under tail-coverts rich yellow; four middle tail-feathers green, the remainder green at the base and largely tipped with yellow; bill and feet dark brown.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size, on one of the grasses of the Upper Hunter.

EUPHEMA SPLENDIDA, _Gould_. Splendid Grass Parrakeet.

_Euphema splendida_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 147.

It is a source of much regret to me, that I am unable to give more than a very slight notice of the beautiful bird that forms the subject of the present Plate. The single specimen from which my description was taken came into my possession in 1840, unfortunately without any other information accompanying it than that it was a native of Swan River; from that period no other example occurred until 1845, when several fine specimens were transmitted to me by the late Mr. Johnson Drummond, who had killed them near Moore’s River in Western Australia, and from whom I should doubtless have received some particulars respecting the habits of this lovely species, had he not been treacherously murdered by a native in his company, while engaged in seeking for materials for this and my other works on the Fauna of Australia.

The Splendid Grass Parrakeet is in every respect a true _Euphema_, and has many characters in common with the _E. pulchella_, but differs from that species in the entire absence of the chestnut mark on the shoulders, in the more intense blue of the face, and in the gorgeously rich scarlet colouring of the chest; and is rendered remarkably conspicuous by the brilliant display of the three primitive colours—blue, red and yellow—on its face, breast and abdomen.

The male has the face and ear-coverts deep indigo-blue, becoming paler on the latter; all the upper surface grass-green; upper wing-coverts beautiful lazuline blue; under wing-coverts deep indigo-blue; primaries and secondaries black; the first three or four primaries slightly margined with green; two centre tail-feathers dark green; the remaining tail-feathers black on the internal webs, green on the external webs and largely tipped with bright yellow, which increases in extent as the feathers recede from the centre; chest rich deep scarlet; under surface yellow, passing into green on the sides of the chest and flanks.

The female differs in having the face and wing-coverts, both above and beneath, of a pale lazuline blue, and in the chest being green instead of scarlet.

The Plate represents two males and a female on a branch of _Beaufortia decussata_, one of the plants of Western Australia.

EUPHEMA BOURKII. Bourke’s Grass-Parrakeet.

_Nanodes Bourkii_, Mitch. Australian Expeditions, vol. i. p. xviii.

For a knowledge of this new species of Grass-Parrakeet, the scientific world is indebted to Major Sir T. L. Mitchell, who discovered it on the banks of the River Bogan, during one of his expeditions into the interior of New South Wales. It is particularly interesting, as exhibiting in the crescentic form of the markings on the back, an approach to the style of colouring observable in the single species of the genus _Melopsittacus_ (_M. undulatus_); at the same time, in its structure it so closely assimilates to the form of the genus _Euphema_, that I have been induced to place it in that group.

It must be regarded as a bird of the greatest rarity, since I did not meet with it during my own expedition, nor could I gain any information whatever respecting it; it is therefore another of those Australian birds to which I would direct the attention of the travellers who may hereafter visit the interior, of which it will doubtless prove to be a denizen. The two examples obtained by Sir T. L. Mitchell are deposited in the Museum at Sydney, and from them the accompanying figures were taken.

Band across the forehead, shoulders above and beneath, secondaries and base of the primaries deep blue; flanks and under tail-coverts turquoise-blue; all the upper surface dark olive-brown, the feathers of the wings edged with greyish white; centre of the abdomen salmon-red; cheeks and remainder of the under surface brown, strongly tinged with salmon-red; six middle tail-feathers deep brown, the external webs tinged with blue; the three outer ones on each side brown at the base, with their external webs blue and the tips white; bill dark horn-colour; legs brown.

The figures are of the natural size.

MELOPSITTACUS UNDULATUS. Warbling Grass-Parrakeet.

_Psittacus undulatus_, Shaw, Nat. Misc., pl. 673.—Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Nova Acta, &c., vol. x. p. 49.

_Undulated Parrot_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 179, pl. xxvi.

_Undulated Parrakeet_, _Psittacus undulatus_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 469.

_Nanodes undulatus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 277.—Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiv. p. 119.—Lear’s Ill. Psitt., pl. 13.—Selby, Nat. Lib., Parrots, p. 181, pl. 19.

_Euphema undulata_, Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., &c., pp. 493, 545, and 707.

_Canary Parrot_, Colonists.

_Betcherrygah_, Natives of Liverpool Plains.

Among the numerous members of the family of Parrots inhabiting Australia, this lovely little bird is preeminent both for beauty of plumage and elegance of form, which, together with its extreme cheerfulness of disposition and sprightliness of manner, render it an especial favourite with all who have had an opportunity of seeing it alive. This animated disposition is as conspicuous in confinement as in its native wilds; a pair now before me are in exuberant health after having braved the severities of a passage to this country by way of Cape Horn in the midst of winter.

The first notice of this species was published by Dr. Shaw in his “Naturalist’s Miscellany,” and until lately, a single specimen, forming part of the collection of the Linnean Society, was the only one known; more recently, however, numbers have been added to our museums, and the bird is now far from being scarce. In all probability it is generally dispersed over the central parts of Australia; but is so exclusively an inhabitant of the vast inland plains, or, if I may so call it, basin of the interior, that it is rarely seen between the mountain ranges and the coast. In the whole southern portion of the continent it is strictly migratory, appearing in large flocks in spring, when the grass-seeds are plentiful, and retiring again after the breeding-season is over to more northern latitudes. My friend Captain Sturt, in one of his letters, dated at Adelaide, South Australia, informs me, that “The Scolloped Parrakeets,” the name given to these birds in that part of the country, “are found in vast flocks in the interior, and make their appearance here about October, following each other in flights like Starlings, in company with the little Crested Parrot (_Nymphicus Novæ-Hollandiæ_), holding a due north and south course. The flight of both is very rapid, and although an interval of half an hour may elapse, they all wend their way in the same direction. Whence come they?”