THE RING PAROQUET. (Palæornis Alexandri.)
This beautiful species, no less remarkable for the elegance of its form than for its docility and imitative powers, is supposed to have been the first of the parrot species known to the ancients, from the time of Alexander the Great down to the age of Nero. It is about fifteen inches long; its bill is thick and red; the head and the body a bright green; the neck, breast, and the whole of the under side of a paler tint. It has a red circle, or ring, which encompasses the neck, and is about the breadth of a little finger at the back; but grows narrower by degrees towards the sides, and ends under the lower bill. The lower part of the body is of so faint a green, that it seems almost yellow. The tail also is of a yellowish green, and the legs and feet ash-coloured.
THE WARBLING GRASS PAROQUET.
(Melopsittacus undulatus.)
Great numbers of Paroquets of different species are found in Australia, and most of these live and seek their food upon the ground rather than in trees. One of them is called the Ground Paroquet, as it is never seen to perch upon trees, but is always running about among the grass and herbage. The Warbling Grass Paroquet is a well known and beautiful little Australian bird, of which considerable numbers have been imported into this country of late years; it is deservedly a favourite, both on account of its elegance, and from its possessing a gentle warbling note very different from the harsh screaming of many species of its tribe. It can, however, scream vigorously for its size. In the interior of Australia these charming little birds occur in countless multitudes. They feed chiefly on the seeds of grasses, which they pick up whilst running upon the ground, but they perch in crowds upon the gum-trees for shelter from the noon-day heat, and also before starting on an expedition in search of water.