The VARIEGATED PARROT (_Psephotus multicolor_) must be regarded as one of the most splendidly coloured of the Grass Parrots, amongst which it is numbered on account of its moderately short wings and unevenly graduated tail. It is about a foot in length, and nine to ten inches in the spread of its wings. This bird inhabits the interior of Australia, being very numerous on the banks of the rivers. The plumage is remarkable on account of the variety of its colours. In the male the forehead and shoulders are brimstone-coloured; the under tail-covers yellow; the lower part of the belly and legs scarlet; the rump striped with yellowish green, dark green, and reddish chestnut brown; the wings and lower wing-covers deep blue; the middle tail-feathers blue; the outer ones blueish green, tipped with pale blue; the beak horn brown; and the feet yellowish brown. The female, whose plumage is similarly marked, only differs from the male in the inferior brilliancy of colouring, being of a yellowish brown on the throat and breast, and only slightly striped on the back of the head and wing-covers. We have but slight knowledge of these birds either in their natural state or in captivity. The Variegated Parrot is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest acquisitions that a connoisseur can make; it is the ornament of every aviary, and, like its congeners, pleases as much by its docility as by the splendour of its plumage. It will also breed in our own country. "My father," says Neubert, "possessed a pair of Variegated Parrots, which were always very cheerful and extremely attached to each other. One was a little larger than the other, and in colour far more beautiful, for that which in the little one was yellow and orange, was in the larger bird orange and flame colour, and so on throughout the different tints. On account of this circumstance, these birds were always supposed to be male and female, and this opinion was strengthened by observing that they showed the greatest affection for each other. After a time the lesser bird--whom for the sake of brevity we will call the female--was always busy on the ground; it seemed melancholy, and ate scarcely anything, but was constantly fed by the male out of his crop. One morning there lay a beautiful white egg in the cage, which the female watched most carefully. My father at once fastened a willow basket to the cage, filled with materials for a nest, and placed the egg upon it; the female, however, lifted it again to the bottom of the cage. On this we gave them a common wooden box, in which a hole was cut, and filled it with soft materials; both birds immediately busied themselves in turning them out, and in chipping some very fine shreds off the inside of the box, on which to lay the egg. From this time the female seldom came out of the box, but the male frequently went in to feed her. Several other eggs were laid during the next few days, some being larger than the rest. The devotion of both birds to the task