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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1867 Excerpt:...GEA8S PAROQUET. (Melopsittacus undulalus.) Great numbers of Paroquets of different species are found in Australia, and most of these live and seek their food upon the ground rather than in trees. One of them is called the Ground Paroquet, as it is never seen to perch upon trees, but is always running about among the grass and herbage. The Warbling Grass Paroquet is a well known and beautiful little Australian bird, of which considerable numbers have been imported into this country of late years; it is deservedly a favourite, both on account of its elegance, and from its possessing a gentle warbling note very different from the harsh screaming of many species of its tribe. It can, however, scream vigorously for its size. In the interior of Australia these charming little birds occur in countless multitudes. They feed chiefly on the seeds of grasses, which they pick up whilst running upon the ground, but they perch in crowds upon the gum-trees for shelter from the noon-day heat, and also before starting on an expedition in search of water. THE COCKATOO. (Plyctolophus galeritus.. This bird is distinguished from the parrots, by a bean tiful crest, composed of a tuft of elegant feathers, which he can raise or depress at pleasure. We meet with some of a beautiful white plumage, and the inside feathers of the crest of a pleasing yellow, with a spot of the same colour under each eye, and one upon the breast. The Cockatoos are natives of the Indian Islands and Australia, where they are found in great abundance. Their food consists of seeds and soft and stony fruits, which last their powerful bill enables them to break with ease. They are easily tamed when taken at an early age, after which they become familiar and even attached, but their imitative powers seldom go...