This beautiful bird is of small size, though its long tail makes it seem larger than it is; its length is from eight to nine inches, and the span of its wings ten inches. The body is slender and elegantly formed, the tail long and graduated, the wings comparatively long and pointed, the beak moderately large, with a long curved point. The cere, in which the large nostrils are placed, is broad and slightly inflated; the feet long, the toes slender, the outer one being longer than the inner. The beautiful grass green that predominates in the plumage is prettily marked; the whole of the mantle--that is, the back of the head, neck, top of the back, shoulders, and wing-covers--are pale yellowish green, each feather being edged and spotted with black and brown, more finely on the neck and head than on the back; the under side is of a beautiful uniform green. The parts of the face, that is, the fore part of the head, vertex, and throat, are yellow, bordered and spotted with four bright blue spots, of which those upon the cheeks are the largest, while the others look like three little round drops. The wings are brown, the outer web of the quills dark grey, spotted with greenish yellow; the tail, with the exception of the two blue middle feathers, is green in the middle. Each feather is striped with yellow, the eye-rings yellowish white, the beak horn-coloured, the feet pale blue. The female is distinguished from her mate in being somewhat smaller, and by the different colour of the cere; with her this is greyish green, whilst in the male it is a bright blue. The young are without the deep blue spots on the throat, and the regular markings on the head, which is entirely covered with delicate stripes; when only eight months old, they assume the plumage of the parent birds. [Illustration: THE WAVED PARROT (_Melopsittacus undulatus_).] Shaw was the first naturalist who became acquainted with and described the Waved Parrot, and Gould is the only traveller who gives us any information respecting its natural state; from him we learn that these birds inhabit the whole of the interior of Australia in enormous numbers, especially where there are large tracts of grass, the seeds of which they eat.