PEZOPORUS FORMOSUS, _Ill._ Ground Parrakeet. _Psittacus formosus_, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 103.—Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Nova Acta, vol. x. p. 45. —— _terrestris_, Shaw, Mus. Lev., p. 217. pl. 53.—Ib. Zool. of New Holl., pl. 3.—Ib. Nat. Misc., pl. 228. _Perruche ingambé_, Le Vaill. Hist. Nat. des Perr., tom. i. p. 66. pl. 32. _Black-spotted Parrakeet of Van Diemen’s Land_, D’Entrecast. Voy., vol. ii. p. 47. pl. x. _Ground Parrot_, Lath. Gen. Syn., Supp., vol. ii. p. 26.—Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 454. pl. 66.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 137. _Pezoporus formosus_, Ill. Prod., p. 201.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 285.—Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., pp. 490 and 520.—Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 305.—G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 66. —— _rufifrons_, Bourj. de St. Hil. Supp. to Le Vaill. Hist. Nat. des Perr., pl. 9. _Bȍo-run-dȕr-dee_, Aborigines northward of Perth in Western Australia. _Djȁr-doon-gȕr-ree_, Aborigines around Perth. _Djul-bat-̏la_, Aborigines southward of Perth. _Ky-lȍr-ing_, Aborigines of King George’s Sound. _Goolingnang_, Aborigines near Sydney, New South Wales. _Swamp Parrakeet_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land. _Ground Parrakeet_, Colonists of New South Wales and Western Australia. The Ground Parrakeet is diffused over the whole of the southern portions of Australia, including Van Diemen’s Land, wherever localities exist suitable to its habits, and so far as I could learn, it is everywhere a stationary species. It has never been observed in the northern latitudes of the continent, but our knowledge of the productions of those parts of Australia is so very imperfect, that I cannot positively affirm that it does not exist there. Unlike some of the African members of its family, which are inelegant in form and slow and ungraceful in their actions, the _Pezoporus formosus_ is as active and graceful as can well be imagined; and although in its colouring it cannot vie with some of its more gaudily attired brethren, it possesses a style of plumage and diversity of markings far from unpleasing. Having very frequently encountered it in a state of nature, I am enabled to state that in its actions it differs from every other known species of its race, as it also does in its habits and economy, which I shall now attempt to describe. Whether the power of perching is entirely denied to it or not I am uncertain, but I never saw it fly into a tree, nor could I ever force it to take shelter on the branches. It usually frequents either sandy sterile districts covered with tufts of rank grass and herbage, or low swampy flats abounding with rushes and the other kinds of vegetation peculiar to such situations. It is generally observed either singly or in pairs, but from its very recluse habits and great powers of running