it is seldom or ever seen until it is flushed, and then only for a short time, as it soon pitches again and runs off to a place of seclusion, often under the covert of the Grass-tree (_Xanthorrhœa_), which abounds in the districts it frequents. A striking analogy in the foregoing habits to those of the Gallinaceæ and some of the Grallatores,—Snipes, &c., is very apparent; and a still further analogy to those tribes of birds is exhibited in the manner of its crouching on the approach of danger and in the strong scent it emits, which has many times caused my dogs to road it, and point as dead as they would have done had game been before them; consequently, when shooting over swampy land in Australia, the sportsman is never certain whether a parrakeet or a snipe will rise to the point of his dog. It flies near the ground with great rapidity, frequently making several zigzag turns in the short distance of a hundred yards, beyond which it seldom passes without again pitching to the ground. Its flesh is excellent, being much more delicate in flavour than that of the snipe, and equalling, if not surpassing, that of the quail. Its white eggs, the number of which I could not ascertain, are deposited on the bare ground. I possess examples of the young of all ages, from the egg to maturity, some killed in Van Diemen’s Land, and others from various parts of Australia; I also procured both adults and young on Flinders’ Island, where I found them breeding on the grassy plains which cover the greater portion of that island. The young assume the colouring of the adult at a very early age, but the sexes offer no external difference by which they can be distinguished. Plumage of the whole of the upper surface dark grass-green, each feather crossed by irregular bands of black and yellow; feathers of the crown and nape with a broad streak of black down the centre; forehead scarlet; neck and breast pale yellowish green, passing into bright greenish yellow on the abdomen and under tail-coverts, crossed by numerous irregular waved blackish bands; primaries and spurious wings green on their outer webs and dark brown on the inner, each of the latter with a triangular spot of pale yellow near the base; four centre tail-feathers green, crossed by numerous narrow bars of yellow; lateral tail-feathers yellow, crossed by numerous bars of deep green; irides black with a fine ring of light grey; feet and legs bluish flesh-colour. The figures are of the natural size. [Illustration: LATHAMUS DISCOLOR. _J. & E. Gould del^t._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._ ] LATHAMUS DISCOLOR Swift Lorikeet. _Red-shouldered Paroquet_, _Psittacus discolor_, Shaw, in White’s Voy., pl. in p. 263. _Red-shouldered Parrakeet_, Phill. Bot. Bay, pl. in p. 269.—Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., ii. p. 90.