It is said to be a native of all parts of Australia, and not only is it found throughout an extensive range, but it is in some places very numerous. Its habits doubtless agree with those of the Platycerci, described on page 237. Gould especially draws attention to the regularity of these birds in all their movements. The flocks fly away at a certain time in the morning to seek for food, return home in the same way, and hurry off, morning and evening, to the drinking places. In the heat of the day they sit motionless in the thick tops of the trees. During the breeding season they live gregariously in the hollows of the gum-trees.

Many pairs settle near each other, and sometimes two or more brood in the same nest. They are said to lay three or four eggs. Whether, as is the case in captivity, they hatch several broods consecutively, is not known; but we may conclude, almost with certainty, that this is so. After the nesting season they collect in flocks of from twenty to a hundred head, and these again unite, apparently all at once, in enormous numbers, and, if the season be dry, undertake more or less distant migrations, and, driven by the drought from their customary habitations, appear suddenly in districts abounding more in water. Among them one often sees little flocks of Grass Parrakeets (Euphema, Wgl.) - for instance, the Tur-quoisine Grass Parrakeet - the Platycerci, and various others. In districts where they are not harassed they are exceedingly tame, and may be shot in great numbers. All their movements are graceful and rapid; their flight is exceedingly quick; they climb well, or rather, they slip about cleverly in the branches, and can walk well on the ground. Their food consists chiefly of grass seeds. They seek out the corn fields also, but do no great damage. On the other hand, however, they offer a valuable prey, for they are often caught by the flock in great nets, for the purpose of export to Europe. The chief places for the capture of Grass and other Parrakeets in this way are said to be the Alexandra and "Wellington Lakes, both situated by the River Murray, where bird seekers resort annually for the capture of all sorts of beautiful parrots, but principally the Undulated Grass Parrakeet. Though no more than threepence or sixpence a head may be paid on the spot by the wholesale dealer, yet, owing to the multiplicity of the birds, considerable sums may be realised. The number of Undulated Parrakeets imported into Europe is estimated at from 2000 to 12,000.

The Undulated Grass Parrakeet bears an unusually high value as an aviary bird, chiefly for the ease with which it may be bred - an advantage found to so great a degree in no other bird except the canary. It is bred with equal zeal either for pleasure or profit, for the admiration for this bird is always increasing, and the young Undulated Parrakeets may sometimes be disposed of to great advantage. Of course, in the spring and early summer months, when many thousand couples arrive on the large Australian ships, the prices fall, but they do not remain low very long, and in winter good breeding birds are expensive.

In my small book, the "Undulated Grass Parrakeet" (Creutz, Magdeburg), full directions will be found for the purchase, management, breeding, and valuation of this species. It may be further remarked that the food is just the same as that directed on page 238 for the Platycerci. Single birds are best fed on canary seed, unshelled millet, and raw oats, with the addition of a little green food and ears of corn or grass.

Just as the canary needed a comparatively long space of time for its complete naturalisation among us; and again, as we are not really able to determine with exactness when the change from the greenish-grey plumage of the wild bird to the light yellow of the cultivated bird took place, or whether, indeed, several centuries were required to bring it about - in the same way the Grass Parrakeet shows itself to be peculiarly subject to the influences of development in breeding. Less than fifty years have sufficed for it to appear before us, not only in varieties of colouring, but also as a speaker. From the original variety we bred a yellowish-green, next a pure yellow was produced, and afterwards a white variety - the two latter had red eyes. Eventually a blue specimen was generated. Surely, no other bird has proved so readily subject to the influences of man in development by breeding.

The principal attraction of the Grass Parrakeet for the readers of this book is, of course, its talent for speech. It is not really astonishing that the Undulated Grass Parrakeet should display a faculty for talking, belonging, as it does, to the Parrot family, and hence to those birds which, as this work abundantly proves, take a much higher rank than others. But when we consider that, though by no means the smallest of the parrots, it is one of the most diminutive imported alive; and that, with its droll charming ways, its rapid movements, etc, it does not at all give the impression of a highly talented bird, then, indeed, its great aptitude for speech becomes somewhat surprising.

Miss Eugenie Maier, of Stuttgart, was, in 1877, the first to give an account of a talker of this species. Her young Grass Parrakeet, which had not yet acquired its adult plumage, picked up some lovely notes from the song of a Japanese robin. "It was very tame, and at a call would fly to my shoulder or my hand. Then it learnt the trumpet notes of a pair of zebra finches, and forgot the call of the robin. I therefore sent the finches away, so that 'Misse' - as I named the parrakeet - had no intercourse with other birds, and soon it also forgot the trumpeting. How great was my astonishment and delight when one day it greeted me with the words, 'Come, dear little Misse, come I' which it at first pronounced hesitatingly, but soon loudly and distinctly. I had always saluted it thus in the morning, but without the intention of teaching it to speak. Not long afterwards it began to say also, ' Oh, you dear little Misse, you little darling, come, give me a kiss.' It is most charming to see it and to hear it, when it plays with my finger, kissing it, then singing, and trying to eat. It flies away, returns, and repeats these gambols countless times, during which it continually chatters the above words."

Mr. William Bauer, of Tubingen, describes another speaking Grass Parrakeet: "If anyone calls 'Hansele, come,' it at once flies to him, sits on his shoulder or on his finger, and begins to chatter. It says most clearly, 'Hansele, where are you ? where are you?' and then replies to itself, ' Here I am;' then it asks further, 'Are you good?' and says very prettily, 'He is a dear little sweetie,' or 'Sweet Hansele! pretty boy!' If a tune is sung to it, it sings it also; it can also laugh and cough, and is especially fond of getting 'kisses.' It puts its beak to one's lips, and kisses with a loud noise. At the same time it watches the eyes constantly, to see if they wear a friendly expression. If it wishes to be kissed, it says, 'Come,' 'a kiss.' Of course, it is accustomed to be talked to a great deal, to be laughed at, and played with; if not, it plays alone with a ball of cotton or a piece of roll. If not let out of the cage very soon in the morning, it cries and complains in truly lamentable tones. It talks also at night when the gas is lighted, and, if tired, it sings and rocks itself, whistling more and more softly, to sleep. It appears to have ceased from its natural cry entirely." It may be added that this parrakeet was sent by Mr. Bauer to the bird show at Berlin, where it took a silver medal, and was afterwards sold for £7 10s.

Another interesting description is furnished by Mr. K. von Scheidt, of Coblentz. The Grass Parrakeet of which he writes was in the workroom of Mr. Schmitz, tailor, together with a canary bird, and it surprised the workers, who had taken much notice of it, by saying softly one day, "Go away, James! you blockhead, you rascal I" The men scarcely believed their ears - one asserted and another denied that the bird had spoken - but soon they heard it talking quite loudly and distinctly. Afterwards it learnt to smack with the tongue, to pipe long-drawn notes, and to kiss; took food from the mouth of its master and his daughter, could distinguish between those around it, and would follow the young lady when she called. It never again uttered the natural cry of the Undulated Grass Parrakeet, but only made a by no means unpleasant twittering.

Dr. Lazarus tells us of an Undulated Grass Parrakeet - "Mignon " - which was uncommonly tame. It would come at a call when flying free through the room, and perch on the hand; and it learnt to pronounce its own name distinctly in a soft tone. This bird was exceedingly affectionate.

The last account of a talking Grass Parrakeet which has come to hand is from Mr. A. Brandt, of Frauenburg : "A young male parrakeet, taken from the nest almost before it was fledged, became remarkably tame in a few days; and, as the owner had spare time to occupy himself with it, it soon learnt to say some words, and in the course of a year and a half it could say about fifty words, and even whole sentences distinctly. The bird is-so teachable that it daily learns something fresh." As the above-named gentleman invites all fanciers to see and hear his Undulated Parrakeet, we can have no reason to doubt the extraordinary talent of this little speaker. Certainly, it has-not yet been excelled by any other of its species.

After the instances given above, we can foresee for the Undulated Grass Parrakeet a much wider appreciation and greatly augmented value; for, of all the speaking parrots, it is among the least troublesome, and it is the most charming, and,, at the same time, the most easily obtained.