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BY

Wa Dare ke dN MEA NED i EoZ.5.,ETC.,

Author of “The Amateur’s Aviary of Foreign Birds,” gc.

WITH NOTES ON SEVERAL SPECIES BY THE HON. AND REV. F. G. DUTTON.

Wb, 100%

ILLUSTRATED WITH COLOURED PLATES.

LONDON:
GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

MDCOCC LXXXVIl.

ONTENTS.

PAGE
HAWK-HEADED OR RUFFED PARROT : . ; : I
PILEATED PARRAKEET . : : : ‘ ° é 8
BAUER’S PARRAKEET os : : : : : 13
BARNARD’S OR THE BULLA BULLA PARRAKEET : : : 17
MASKED PARRAKEET ; ‘ : i : : 2
RED SHINING PARRAKEET : ; ; : . : 25
QuakER, GREY-BREASTED, OR MONTE VIDEO PARRAKEET ; 29
YELLOW-NAPED PARRAKEET . : : . ; : 37
CANARY-WINGED PARRAKEET ; : 5 : e 4I
GOLDEN, OR QUEEN OF BavaRia’S PARROT . : : : 45
TRI-COLOURED OR BLACK-CAPPED Lory . : 5 : 49
BLUE-BREASTED Lory . : ‘ : : : ; 53
PETz’s CONURE d : 3 : . : : 57
JENDAYA CONURE : ‘ 5 : : : : 61
Rock PEPLER, OR BLACK-TAILED PARRAKEET . P ; 65
SUN PARRAKEET, OR YELLOW CONURE : : - : 7
VASA PARROT . ; : : : na: : 75
JARDINE’S PARROT : : ; : : : - 83
RED-SIDED OR NEw GUINEA EcLEcTUS . : : : 89

JAMAICA PARROT, OR WHITE-FRONTED AMAZON -

CuBAN PARROT, OR RED-THROATED WuHITE-HEADED AMAZON . IOI

lv CONTENTS.

YELLOW-NAPED AMAZON ; wie ot : J
MEALY AMAZON , : : 3 3 4 ,
MounTAIN PARROT OF NEW ZEALAND, OR KEA ; j
GREAT BLtack CocKaToo oF NEW GUINEA, OR GOLIATH ARATOO
GANG-GANG OR GANGA COCKATOO ; ; : :

GREAT SALMON-, OR ROSE-, OR RED-CRESTED COCKATOO

PAGE
107
113
119
125
131
137)

@NTRODUCTION.

“DO PARROTS DRINK?”

qpe be again asked the above question, after all we have written upon the
subject, in the course of this work, and elsewhere, is, we must confess,
not a little disappointing.

Nevertheless, to get out of temper and return a short answer would not
be likely to mend matters, but, on the contrary, to harden the queriest in
his objectionable ways; so we reply, as meekly as we can, “They do.” “I
have had my Parrot for thirty years, and it has never had a drop of water
all the time,” persists our interlocutor, and we reply: “That only proves
that your bird is possessed of an exceptionally strong constitution, and not
that your method of management is correct.”

As a matter of fact we have seen all kinds of Parrots resorting to water
in their native country, and drinking freely morning and evening; and we
know that they traverse considerable distances for the purpose of quenching
their thirst.

At the same time it must be remembered that in the regions they chiefly
inhabit, the dew falls much more heavily than it does with us, and the
Parrots are enabled to suck a considerable amount of moisture from the
leaves of the trees they inhabit, or from the grass, among which many
species seek their food on the ground; yet all these birds frequent the
waterholes both for drinking and bathing, and should not be debarred from
following in captivity a propensity that is not only not hurtful, but, on the
contrary, is indispensable to their well being.

The deprivation of water acts injuriously on Parrots in many ways: in the
first place it causes them to eat more of the “sop” with which their owners
usually supply them, than they can digest; the result being dyspepsia, with

vi INTRODUOTION.

all its attendant horrors; or crop-binding, from over-distension of that organ
with soft food.

Secondly, the absence of the natural amount of fluid in the system, and
especially the deprivation of water for bathing often give rise to dryness and
irritation of the skin, causing the natural process of moulting to become
painful or impossible; as well as giving rise to the objectionable habit of
self-mutilation, into which these birds are so liable to fall.

Thirdly, the practice of debarring Parrots from drinking must cause the
poor creatures a great deal of unnecessary suffering, and on that account
should be deprecated by every thoughtful person into whose custody one
of them has chanced to pass.

We are glad to say that since we first called attention to the subject of
giving water to captive Parrots, there has been a marked improvement in
this respect in quarters where it had previously been the custom to keep —
them without a suitable supply of this indispensable fluid, for which ‘soft
food,” is not an efficient substitute; and we hope ere long to find the
absurd superstition entirely exploded. Where it can have had its origin we
are at a loss to imagine.

As far as we can gather it is peculiar to this country, and when the
practice is mentioned to foreigners it excites a feeling of astonishment not
unmingled with contempt; to which we have often heard expression given,
coupled with remarks about insular intelligence, that were far from com-
plimentary.

It is true that Parrots are not large drinkers, do not imbibe as much fluid
in the course of twenty-four hours as a duck or a goose would do, but that
is surely no reason for keeping them without water all the year round. They
are small eaters too, and to force them to swallow, for the sake of the
moisture it contains, several times as much food as their natural appetite
would prompt them to partake of, is decidedly an unwise proceeding, for
it is one calculated to shorten their lives, and not unfrequently does so.

To keep Parrots entirely without water is bad enough, but we were scarcely
prepared fora further atrocity, which we have reason to believe is sometimes
practised in their case by cruel and ignorant people.

Not long since we received a query from an unknown correspondent who
said that he had had a Parrot (he did not name the species) for a long
time, that it did not, or would not talk, and that he had been advised to
split its tongue! being assured that if he did so, it would at once become
a fluent speaker.

INTRODUCTION. vii

Being somewhat in doubt, apparently, as to the advisability or otherwise
of the proceeding, he wrote for information, and we replied that if the
bird would not talk when its tongue was in its natural condition, it most
decidedly would not do so when that organ had been split in half! instancing
a case in point of another correspondent who wrote to tell us of a jay he
had had for some time, which had begun to talk nicely, when, acting on
the advice of some one, he had split the poor creatures tongue, and it had
never said a word afterwards.

Many people write to enquire how they are to teach their Parrots to speak:
are they to be kept in the dark, starved, or pampered, or should they be
placed where they will always see and hear people about them?

To this we reply, there is a great deal of difference in Parrots, even when
belonging to the same species, with regard to the faculty of imitating human
speech and domestic sounds. Some will pick up words and phrases they
have heard but once and repeat them accurately, while others will keep on
year after year without learning to say a single word. They vary in disposition
and intelligence as much as children do, and no hard and fast rule can
be laid down for teaching them.

Given, say a Grey Parrot of average intelligence and docility, the best
way to teach him to speak, is to constantly repeat in his hearing the word
or words it is wished he should learn, and with patience and perseverance
he will in all probability do so after a longer or shorter course of training;
then when he has acquired one sentence or word, begin to teach him another,
and continue in the same way until his repertory becomes as extended as
that of the famous bird for which a Cardinal once gave one hundred golden
crowns, because it could repeat the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed.

Some birds, however, will never learn to say anything, or at most but a
word or two, and upon these the most patient teaching is simply thrown
away; they are, in all probability females, and are as incapable of imitating
articulate sounds as hen birds in general are of singing.

On the other hand, we have known some good talkers, especially among
the greys, that proved their sex by laying eggs, just as we have now and
then met with females that warbled nearly as well as their mates, or hens
that crowed like Chanticleer: still these are exceptions to the rule that a
talking or singing bird belongs to the masculine gender.

It is not necessary to keep a Parrot in the dark, or fasting, in order to
teach it to speak, on the contrary the bird should be well fed, and supplied
with everything to make it happy and comfortable; good food, hemp, maize,

Vili INTRODUCTION.

oats, biscuit, a bit of apple, pear, or even a slice of carrot, water, for drinking
and bathing, a good roomy cage, soft wood to gnaw, and coarse grit from
which to pick small stones to aid its digestion.

If a bird thus fed and treated is placed in one room, and its teacher
takes his or her stand in one adjoining, where he or she can be heard, but
not seen by the Parrot, and the same words are as frequently as possible
repeated during the day; the bird will soon pick them up, and gratify the
owner by giving a distinct imitation of the sounds to which it listens all the
more intently, that it does not know exactly from whence they proceed.

Do Parrots ever talk intelligently? that is to say, do they ever make in-
telligent use of their acquired vocabulary? We think so. Thus our lamented
Goffin never screamed for ‘‘Potato!”’ except when he spied that esculent upon
the table; and it was certainly something like intelligence that prompted
another talented bird to say “‘Serve him right!” when his mistress, as much
in sorrow as in anger, asked: ‘‘O Polly, why did you bite my boy?” for the
urchin had been teasing the poor bird unmercifully, and had got no more
than his deserts, when ‘‘Polly’ suddenly nipped and drew blood from the
offending finger.

Parrots, as a rule, are long-lived, and instances have been mentioned to
us in which individual birds have lived in the same family for periods vary-
ing from forty to seventy and even eighty years, handed down from generation
to generation as valued heir-looms; but for one of these veterans that one
hears of, how many poor “Pollies” are hurried to an untimely end by the
ignorance of their owners, and the consequent mismanagement of the poor
creatures themselves ?

We trust, however, that the readers of these pages have long ere this
learned to treat their pets judiciously, because naturally, and are in no danger
of relapsing into former errors respecting them, at the bidding of some friend
imbued with antiquated notions, the shallowness of which has been exposed
over and over again; but are nevertheless cropping up every now and then,
and occasionally from the most unexpected quarters, for error dies hard,
though its end is certain.

WRG:

Moira House,
Peckham Rye, Surrey.

(PARROTS IN (APTIVITY.

&

PPAWK-EREADED OR RUFFED “PARROT.
JK ,

Psittacus Accipitrinus.
Synonyms: Psitiacus Clusii, SHaw; Pionias accipitrinus, Finscu.
France: Perroquet a cravatte. Gurman: Kragenpapager.

HE exceedingly curious bird, whose portrait, admirably drawm from

nature by Mr. Lydon, heads this chapter, is one of the most
commendable Parrots with which the writer is acquainted. In size it
about equals the Grey, which it rivals in linguistic attainments, while
it is infinitely more droll and amusing in its ways, as well as more
gentle and confiding in its disposition.

Tt is not by any means a common bird, even in its own country,
the Brazils and Honduras, and is very rarely imported. So scarce is it,
that a pair of these birds would readily command the high price of
£20: the dealers appear to be unacquainted with it, and the few
specimens that now and then reach our shores are brought over by
private hand, and are, consequently, quite tame and gentle on arrival.

Like most South American birds, the Ruffed Parrot, though com-
paratively thinly clad with feathers, is perfectly hardy, and requires
no particular care as to temperature, that usual in an ordinary dwelling-

III. B

2 HAWK-HHADHD PARROT.

house appearing to be sufficient to maintain it in health and comfort.

It is frugal in its diet, and prefers hemp seed to any other kind
of foot, but will eat fruit, biscuits, sugar and bread, and a change
of diet on these lines is conducive to maintaining the bird in health.

When “Pinto”, as the writer has named his bird after the Portu-
guese gentleman who very kindly presented it to him, first arrived
after a long journey in an open cage on a very cold winter’s day, he
was shivering, seemed very ill, and kept on repeating incessantly, in
a loud and reproachful tone, “check, check, check”, as if pitying him-
self and his condition exceedingly. The warmth of the room to which
he was at once transferred, and some fresh food of which he partook
freely, soon restored him to what has since been ascertained to be his
normal state of equanimity, and he speedily composrd himself to sleep;
emitting every now and then a little self-congratulatory chuckle that
sounded extremely droll.

Needless to say that “Pinto” soon became a prime favourite with
every member of the family, and was allowed almost perfect liberty,
of which, however, he was somewhat slow in availing himself at first,
as he had not the least idea of flying, though provided by Nature
with a pair of long, broad, and seemingly strong wings. He soon gained
confidence though, can now fly anywhere, and is fond of using his
powers of flight, but puffs a good deal when he settles down again
after one of these aérial expeditions.

When he first arrived among us he could not speak at all, but
repeated continually the sound made by clicking the tongue against
the roof of the mouth, which we have endeavoured to express by the
words “‘check, check, check”; but he soon acquired other accomplish-
ments, and astonished us all one day very much by repeating, though
of course, in a louder key, the song of a Canary that was kept in
the room with him, His next feat was to imitate with wonderful
fidelity the crying of a young child, and after that he began to pick
up words, and now says, “Little boy”’, “Pretty Poll’’, and other short
phrases, each of which he prefaces with the interjections “Ah! ha!’
He always salutes the writer in the morning with the exclamation,
“Ah! ha! Papa!” an observation he never addresses to any other
person. He also laughs in the most natural manner possible.

He knows his name, ‘‘Pinto”’, perfectly well, and always answers to
it; he generally salutes a stranger with the interrogative monosyllable
“Well?” adding occasionally his favourite exclamation, “check, check,
check!” If he does not like the new comer, he raises his wonderful
ruff, expands his tail, and drawing himself up to his full height, dances
on his perch, and presents altogether so weird and uncanny an appear-

HAWK-HEADED PARROT. 3

ance, that most people are afraid of him, yet he is the dearest and
most gentle old thing in the world, and not in the least spiteful, though
fond of pretending to be very wicked indeed, now and then.

For instance, he has taken a great dislike to one lady visitor, and
if he happens to be out of his cage when she comes into the room,
flies at her open mouthed, hissing like an Owl, and chases her all
about the place; and when he has forced her to beat an ignominious
retreat, runs along the table, pressing his beak to its surface, and
every now and then emits a little squeal, not unlike the sound made
by a wheel in want of greasing—wheeling a barrow, as the young
folk of the household call this funny procedure on the part of their
favourite.

He very much enjoys having his head rubbed, and will sit for any
length of time on one’s lap, grunting the while with satisfaction at
the gentle friction and the genial warmth to his feet. He is very
playful, and will frequently, in his cage and out, turn over on his
back and amuse himself with a stone ora bit of stick, which he tosses
about from beak to foot in evident enjoyment of the game.

Two objectionable habits he has; one of which is, that he will try
to feed his friends by bringing up the half-digested food from hig
crop, and the other, that he takes it into his head to scream awfully
at times, and can scarcely be pacified once he has begun. But on the
whole his good qualities far and away outbalance the bad, so that the
writer has no hesitation in recommending the Ruffed Parrot to the
favourable consideration of his readers.

Though not as good, or bad, a carpenter as some of its congeners,
this bird greatly enjoys picking a log of soft wood to pieces; an
employment, or amusement, in which its powerful mandibles are doubt-
less of great assistance; it can also crack nuts and bend the wires of
its cage; needless then to remark that it can bite, but fortunately
appears to have no disposition to do so, even under a considerable
amount of provocation.

The colouring of the Hawk-headed Parrot will be better understood
by a glance at Mr. Lydon’s excellent illustration than by the perusal
of half a dozen pages of letterpress. It will, however, be necessary
to observe that the conspicuous ruff that adorns the creature’s neck is
usually worn level with the remainder of the plumage, and that it is
only when the bird is excited that it is raised, as shown in the
plate.

The green of the wings and back varies in shade in the most curious
manner, according to the light in which the bird is placed; thus, whilst
ordinarily it is of a brilliant emerald tint, it will appear to be of a

4 HAWK-HHADED PARROT.

dull bronzed or even coppery hue when the creature is placed between
the spectator and the window; and the same remark applies to the
shading of the breast and back of the neck, where the feathers change
from red to purple according to the point of view of the beholder.

The tail feathers, with the exception of the central pair, are black
which is also the colour of the flight feathers of the wings; these
never undergo the chameleon-like phases that a change in the relative
positions of the spectator and the bird produces, for they are ever and
always black.

There would seem to be several varieties of these birds, for the
British Museum contains the skin of one that is as large as a White
Cockatoo, and, while the top of “ Pinto’s” head is dull grey, a pair
of Hawk-heads at the “Zoo” have the feathers in the same position
white, but otherwise exactly resemble the bird from which our illus-
tration is taken.

As it might be thought somewhat venturesome and illogical to
generalize from an individual instance, and praise a whole race for the
sake of one of its members, that deserves all that can be said in its
favour; it is advisable to point out here that Dr. Russ also gives these
birds an excellent character, including them among his “Talking
Parrots,’ and voting them intelligent and docile.

The Hawk-headed Parrot is not the only member of the family that
has the power of raising a nuchal crest, for the Orange-crested
Cockatoo and several of the Amazons are similarly gifted; the former
even to a much greater extent, for it not only elevates the feathers
on the back, but on the sides, of the neck; as will be seen when we
come to describe it further on.

Tt would be instructive and curious too, if one could ascertain why
this power was conferred upon these birds and not upon others of their
race; but the inquiry is one that is not likely to be satisfactorily
answered. . Certain it is that the ornament in question imparts an extra-
ordinarily savage appearance to its possessor, and is doubtless of service
to the creature by inspiring terror in the beholder.

On one occasion when “ Pinto”? was sent to the Bird Show at the
Crystal Palace, his curious appearance was commented upon by the
reporters for the press, who one and all united in pronouncing him to
be something unique, and exhorted visitors not to fail in getting a
sight of so remarkable a bird; one of them even went so far as to
characterize the dear old fellow as having a Satanic expression, which
was perhaps excusable, for his brilliant colours were scarce discernible
in the dim uncertain light of the Show, and his excited manner as
he incessantly raised and depressed his nuchal ruff, and danced up

HAWK-HHADEHD PARROT. 5

and down, with widely expanded tail, on his perch, justified in a
manner, the infernal epithet.

Yet this strange bird was left unnoticed by the judge, who thought
possibly that ib was a made-up creature, the movements of which were
regulated by clock-work. Whether or not, “Pinto” will not be sent
there again, for he was very much upset by the whole affair, and
especially by the rude gaze, and ruder gaze of such an unwonted
number of strangers; and fora long time after his return home would
not come out of his cage, or allow himself to be touched by anyone.

As a rule, there is very little use in sending a new bird to a Show,
for most of the Judges have long since fallen into a groove, and
resent the obtrusion upon their notice of anything to which they are
unaccustomed, either by passing it over in contemptuous silence, their
favourite method; or by making an award incommensurate with the
value and merit of the intruder they find themselves reluctantly com-
pelled to mention.

“Pinto” is very fond of drinking, and always has recourse to his
cup after a meal of dry seed, bread, or biscuit; but he does not take
much at a time, a couple of mouthfuls or so, and yet at the “Zoo”
it is the custom to keep his relations without water, which must be a
great privation to them, and have a tendency to shorten their lives;
although we are glad to say that since we first noticed the fact in
these pages there has been a marked change for the better in this
respect in the ‘‘Parrot House.”

He also likes to sprinkle himself well over with water occasionally
and makes at such times a tremendous fugs, but we have never observed
him actually enter the bath: the fact being that in their native land,
where the dews are heavy, these birds get wet enough while flying
about in the early morning among the trees, to renew the gloss of
their plumage; for which reason others wash themselves several times
a day in countries, where the dew-fall is not as excessive as it is in
tropical and sub-tropical America.

Fruit forms a considerable proportion of the diet of Brazilian Parrots
in their wild state, and should always be supplied to such of these
birds as are kept in captivity. ‘Pinto,’ for instance, is extremely
fond of a piece of apple or pear, of a few grapes or nuts, or even a
piece of boiled potatoe or carrot; bnt at the same time another bird,
that has not been accustomed to such dainties, must be ;-cautiously
supplied with them, lest be should get a surfeit by over-eating himself.

When “Pinto” flies down on the table during dinner, as he some-
times does, he always makes a grab at the meat on the nearest plate,
and if he can secure a morsel devours it with gusto; rolling his tongue

6 HAWK-HEHADED PARROT.

about as if he thoroughly enjoyed the bonne bouche, over which he
actually smacks his lips; if the latter term can be applied to the sides
of his horny mandibles. At the same time he is not in a general way
allowed to have meat, which we believe to be very injurious to these
birds, causing them to moult at all seasons, and even sometimes to
pluck out their own feathers and disfigure themselves. In fact we
look upon this partiality of our pet as an evidence on his part of
depraved taste, and have strictly forbidden him the luxury he un-
doubtedly covets; and which may have been, most likely was, forced
upon him in the first instance by a former injudicious owner or
attendant.

Since he has been in our possession, “Pinto” has always enjoyed
the rudest health; when he first arrived from Manchester he had a
cold in his head that caused us a little uneasiness, but it soon passed
off, and he has never ailed anything since. Last summer we turned
him out into the aviary, thinking the change would be beneficial, but
he seemed so thoroughly miserable there, that we soon took him in
again, and allowed him instead the range of the house, which he now
enjoys.

He has quite recently developed a curious taste for sitting at the
bottom of the cage and grubbing among the sand and splinters of
wood, making the while a curious noise not unlike that of a hen whose
chickens have just come out of their shells, which, according to Mr.
Dutton’s observations, would tend to prove that the bird is, after all,
a female! a supposition that receives support from the fact that the
top of “‘Pinto’s” head is dark grey, while that of the “pair” at the
“Zoo” is white.

As already observed, the feathery coating of the Hawk-headed Parrots
is decidedly thin, and the birds are moreover quite destitute of the
inner covering of down, that enables our native birds to successfully
resist the imclemency of our winters, and this is particularly observable
on the sides under the wings, which are almost naked; nor is this a
peculiarity of an individual specimen, but is the normal condition of
the species, from which it is fair to conclude that these birds are
chilly and could not readily be housed out of doors in this country.

“Pinto” indeed is so fond of warmth that if, as we have occasionally
done, he is let out of the cage in the morning, before we are up; he
will fly on to the bed, and make his way under the bed-clothes to
our side, when he will nestle down as close as he can and purr and
chuckle in evident enjoyment of the congenial warmth.

He, for we cannot make up our mind to use the feminine pronoun
in this bird’s regard, is very ticklesome, and if touched under the

HAWK-HEADED PARROT. 7

wing with the tip of the finger almost laughs; at any rate wriggles
about and contorts himself after the manner of a human being in a
similar predicament; making at the same time a little remonstrant noise
that sounds uncommonly like the familiar contraction “Don’t!’’ but
nevertheless evincing a keen appreciation of the fun, and retaliating
on his tormentor by playfully nibbling the attacking finger.

From indications we have observed we feel sure this bird would
willingly pair if it had a mate, and although we have been promised
one, we do not see much sign of its arrival, and fear that poor “Pinto”
is doomed to linger out a life of single blessedness (?) without a chance
of helping to perpetuate the species.

Another observation we have made tending to confirm the opinion
already expressed that “Pinto” is a lady, is that “she” does not
appear at all disposed to make up to any of the fellow captives that
occupy the same room, as male Parrots generally do; for instance, if
utterly rejected the advances of a female Ring-necked Parrakeet, takes
no notice of a Plumhead male, or of “Pilate”, except to fly at the
latter when it alights on the cage, and generally resenting the approach
of its congeners.

Taking, however, “Pinto” for all in all, we have no hesitation in
saying that he, she, or it ig one of the most delightful and amusing
birds we have ever kept, and, we feel assured, this species only requires
to be better known to be appreciated as it deserves.

Quite recently ‘Pinto”’ has developed a new accomplishment, and,
as we write, is whistling “bonnily”, as a Scotchman would say. In
fact we can place no limit to the development of his talents, seeing
that he has learned so much during the two years he has been in our
possession, and picks up a new trick almost every day.

Since writing the above we have acquired another bird of this species,
which is even more droll and interesting than “Pinto’’, which it sur-
passes in linguistic attainments, possessing a repertoire that would do
eredit to any Grey Parrot; it is also full of tricks, rolls on its back
and tosses a pebble about with its feet; stands on its head in the corner
of the cage; cries “ Hark!’ and holds up one foot to call attention;
quite confirming the impression we had already formed as to the
intelligence and tractability of the Hawk-headed Parrots.

(RILEATED “RARRAKEET.

Psittacus pileatus, GouLp.
Synonyms: Platycerus pileatus; P. spurius.
Fruncu: Platycerque a bonnet rouge.

Ses ther eared distinguished among its peers by the harmonious
and varied tintings of its plumage, the Pileated Parrakeet is no
less to be recommended to the notice of amateurs for its gentle and
loveable disposition, its inoffensive habits, and the softness and sweet-
ness of its notes—it never screams or screeches, but warbles delightfully
in a low and pleasing tone—than for the charm of its personal appear-
ance; which, though not showy, is extremely attractive and neat.

A native of the sparsely-timbered ranges of Western Australia, the
Ruby-capped Parrakeet was first described and figured by the late
John Gould, F.R.S., the author, inter alia, of that magnificent work,
The Birds of Australia, of which a single copy is now worth about
£300; and well worth it, too, in our estimation and that of many people.

“Pilate”, contracted from pileated, has been in the writer’s possession
for several years, and is believed to be the only specimen of its species
now living in this country, where, until recently, a second was to be
seen at the “Zoo”, but has gone over to the majority; while a few
young ones, in immature plumage, that were imported during the summer
(1885) by the late Anton H. Jamrach, are believed to have all died
soon after leaving his hands.

The present writer is unacquainted with the early history of the
lovely bird of which Mr. Lydon has so admirably drawn the portrait
for the present work, for it was purchased at a little suburban bird-
shop, of which the owner had obtained it from a boy in the neighbour-
hood; to whom it had been made a present by a friend, who was reported
to have brought it from Australia.

It was then adult, and perhaps two years old, in splendid condition,

PILEHATEHD PARRAKEERT. 9

and very tame and gentle. It soon grew reconciled to its new home
and surroundings, but after awhile, whether it pined for its late un-
grateful master, or the change of diet did not agree with it, for the
dealer was unable to say to what food the bird had been accustomed,
before passing into his possession; it grew sick and weak, and seemed
as if it must certainly die.

Careful nursing, however, soon brought it round, and in the course
of a week or two “Richard was himself again”, while a sojourn in a
large out-door aviary during the summer months so improved its ap-
pearance and invigorated its frame; that, at the present time it is
able to fy a dozen times or more round the room, without losing
breath. It is rather sensitive to cold, and a small eater, preferring
canary seed, but taking a little maize and hemp now and then. Of
fruit it is extremely fond, but if given a lump of sugar, it proceeds
at-once to drop it into its water-tin, into which he also dips every piece
of crust, or biscuit, or even boiled potato, that may be given to it.

When it perceives anything on the table that it fancies, it comes
close up to the wires, stretches out its head, and raising its tail to the
level of its back, flaps its wings quickly; without, however, opening
them out, and emits a series of little calls, that sound something like
“chee chu chu” rapidly repeated; but so far, although it answers to
its name, “ Pilate,” by the above-described call, it has never attempted
to speak, or even to imitate any kind of domestic noise, as most of
its congeners are in the habit of doing.

Tt is amazingly fond of whittling, and if not supplied with a log
of soft wood on which to exercise its long and sharp upper mandible,
soon cuts a perch to pieces, or picks holes in the wall; in default of
other material, it will even nibble the bars of its cage, but it is always
supplied with timber, which it converts into minute chips in a very
short space of time.

Hating little, and always, or nearly always, dry food, it is a very
clean bird, bathes frequently, and takes great care of its beautiful
plumage, which is in ag perfect condition as if it enjoyed entire liberty ;
which it might do but for one objection, namely, the havoc it makes
with wood of every description; picture-frames, backs of chairs, and
especially the top of an over-mantle, of which it seems to be particularly
fond; it has quite a passion for overhawling a desk, or box, lifting up
the covers of the little receptacles for pens, etc., and pulling out and
scattermg the contents on all sides. Pencils and penholders it seems
to have an extreme liking for, and will even try to pull them from

one’s fingers, when they are speedily broken, or cut rather, into pieces,
if the bird is allowed to have its way.

10 PILHATED PARRAKEET.

“ Pilate’ and the Hawk-headed Parrot, already described, often have
a battle royal when the former alights softly on the top of the cage
usually occupied by the latter; but when both are out together they
are very good friends, and like to explore each other’s dwelling, occa-
sionally making an exchange; “Pilate” taking possession of “ Pinto’s”
abode, and the latter ensconcing himself in the cage ordinarily occupied
by the former. All the same, the Pileated Parrakeet is a decidedly
timid bird, and when in the aviary would surrender its place at the
seed-box to the smallest of the inmates, without even an attempt at
resistance.

Mr. Lydon’s beautiful plate renders a detailed description of the
Pileated Parrakeet unnecessary; it will be sufficient to observe that the
green of the back and wings and the purple of the breast appear to
change into various shades of the same colours, according to the light
in which the bird is seen. The same remark holds good, though in a
less degree, of the ruby-coloured cap, from which this Parrakeet takes
its name, the golden green cheeks and the grey blue under surface of
the tail. This appendage is about eight inches in length, and consists
of twelve feathers, of which the central pair are the longest and dark
green; the next pair are about half an inch shorter than the first, and
are pale blue tipped with white; an arrangement of colour that also
obtains with the third pair, which are about half an inch shorter than
the second; the rest of the tail feathers are without white tips, and
very much shorter than the others, the sixth or outside pair not being
more than two inches long.

The beak is long and narrow, of a dull blue, lighter at the tip, and
so formed that the horn-coloured tongue can always be seen. The eyes
are hazel, and the legs and feet grey.

Although strong on the wing, and an excellent flyer, the Pileated
Parrakeet has long legs, and is very active on the ground, where it
passes a considerable portion of its time, walking freely, and running
with as much nimbleness as the Grass Parrakeets; to which it seems
to bear, in the opinion of the present writer, more affinity than to the
Broadtails (Platycerci), with which it is usually classed.

Gould observes that it feeds mainly on the ground, probably on the
seeds of the indigenous grasses.

The sexes are very much alike in respect of colour, and general
appearance, but the adult male has a dull red shade on the rump,
which in the female is yellowish green.

The plumage of the young is all of a dull green, but the cap and
cheek patches are already defined, and the change to the adult habit
is speedily effected. Little is known of these birds in their wild state

PILHATED PARRAKHET. 11

but it is reasonable to conclude, that they are not as hardy as many of
their congeners in captivity.

Owing to the scarcity of the Pileated Parrakeet in its native country,
and the rarity with which it is imported into this, a good specimen
commands a high price in the bird-market, and the young ones, already
referred to, were readily disposed of on arrival, at prices varying from
£3 to £5 each.

Incredible as it may appear, this rare and beautiful bird has been
twice exhibited at the Crystal Palace Bird Show, without attracting
the attention of the Judges, who awarded the prize on one occasion
to an indifferent specimen of Pennant’s Parrakeet, and on the other
to something else; truly a casting of pearls before swine, which shall
not occur again; the fact being, that the majority of people do not
know a good bird when they see one. In palliation, however, of the
conduct of the Palace authorities, it may be here incidentally mentioned,
that the light is anything but good at the Bird Shows that are held
there every year. |

Dr. Russ, of Berlin, who passes for an authority, does not even
mention the Pileated Parrakeet, which, as far as the writer of these
remarks is aware, has previously been described by Gould alone. True,
an anonymous contributor to the Boys Own Annual, just mentions it,
and calls it Platycercus spwrius, but affirms it to resemble Barnard’s
Broad-Tail, which is certainly a wide stretch of imagination, as readers
will have an opportunity of judging for themselves; when the latter
handsome bird is reached in the course of the present volume.

In concluding this brief sketch, it will be sufficient to say that the
subject of ib is one of of the most desirable birds to make a pet of.
Hlegant of shape and of beautiful plumage, it has the further advantage
of not being in the least noisy; it is very tame and gentle, and, once
it has become acclimatised, fairly hardy, providing that extremes of
cold are avoided. It is very friendly and sociable, and may safely be
kept with even the tiniest Waxbills, without the least fear of its doing
them an injury.

On the other hand, it will not learn to speak, and cannot be classed
with “The talking Parrots’, like many of its congeners; it is rather
expensive, too, and when first imported, delicate. It is an inveterate
cutter and clipper of wood, a very Gladstone in the matter of timber,
if not in any other respect; and cannot, consequently, be kept in a
conservatory, or even in an out-door aviary planted with trees and
shrubs.

It seems invidious, however, to take leave of so charming a bird
with words of dispraise, and we therefore repeat that among desirable

12 PILEATED PARRAKEET.

pets, the Pileated Parrakeet, in our opinion, occupies a very high place
indeed.

That it is not noisy in the least degree, and is extremely beautiful,
without being gaudy or “loud” in colour, is surely enough to recom-
mend a most delightful creature to the favourable notice of connoisseurs.
It is much to be regretted that so few of these eminently desirable
birds should be imported, and that their treatment should be so little
understood; that when one arrives, it as often as not, is lost through
ignorance of the proper way to manage it on the part of its owner.

The death of the young birds, brought up from the nest by hand,
that were received by the late A. H. Jamrach may be attributed, without
doubt, to the insanitary condition of their surroundings during the
voyage; for on their arrival at his place of business, that well-known
dealer, much to be regretted by amateurs, assured us they were in a
deplorably filthy state, and although he at once attended to them, and
placed them in more comfortable quarters than the poor creatures had
occupied for weeks; they all, as far as we are aware, ultimately died.

Should another of these birds ever pass into the hands of the writer,
he would keep it very warm in the first instance, gradually lowering
the temperature as the bird became acclimatised; would not permit it
to wash except in tepid water, which he would also supply for drinking
purposes, and would feed on oats and bread-sop, gradually weaning
to canary seed; by which means he believes he would be more successful
than he was in the last instance, when one of these very charming birds
came into his possession; and thus secure a mate for “ Pilate’’.

BAUER'’S PARRAKEET.

18

IBAUER’S “RARRAKEET.

Psittacus Zonarus.
Synonyms: Psittacus viredis, (!) Platycercus Baueri, P. cyanomelas,
P. zonarius, etc.
Franco: Perruche de Bauer. Gurman: Der Ringsittech.

HIS handsome Broadtail has a number of aliases, and is called,

amongst other appellations, The Port Lincoln Parrakeet, the
Zoned Barnardius, and other equally fanciful designations;; by Gould
it is named Bauer’s Parrakeet, and this designation we have thought
it best to adopt in these pages, as in addition to the authority of
the author of ‘‘The Birds of Australia”, that of Vigors and Horsfield
may be cited in support of it.

It is a trifle larger than the Rosella, but not as large as Pennant’s
Broadtail. The plate gives a good idea of the colouring, which we
need not stop to particularise; merely remarking that it bears a great
resemblance to another species of the same sub-family, the Platycercus
semitorquatus of Gould; from which, however, it is readily distinguished
by the red circlet above the upper mandible in the latter species.

In captivity this Parrakeet has, in our experience, but little to
recommend it to the notice of amateurs; for in a cage it is dull and
listless, and is not to be trusted in the aviary with companions
weaker and more defenceless than itself. It never learns to speak,
as far as the writer of these pages is aware, and though its voice is
not often exerted to its utmost power, the bird takes fits of screaming
now and then.

In a large aviary, however, this disagreeable trait in its character is
not so noticeable as it must be in the house, and if it has no
companions it can bully, even to death, Bauer will get on very well
in an out-door avairy of large size; in which, needless to remark, it
would not permit any tree or shrub to live very long, seeing that it
is as great a whittler as the rest of its family.

14 BAUER'S PARRAKEHET.

M. Alfred Rousse, of Fontenay-le-Comte, reports a brood in 1884,
from an acclimatised pair of these birds, but we are not aware that
his success in this respect has been repeated elsewhere; for these
Parrakeets are not common even in their native land, South Western
Australia, and are very seldom imported; so that they command
a high price in the market, and are bought by amateurs at from £3
to £4 a pair.

The female is not quite as large as her mate, is duller in colouring
than he is, and has the head smaller and somewhat more flattened;
otherwise the sexes are indistinguishable.

Like most of the Broadtails, the Bauer is hardy and a frugal feeder,
preferring canary-seed, but eating hemp and oats, which last should
always be offered to it when first imported, as it is usually fed on
them during the voyage, and an abrupt change of diet is often pro-
ductive of disastrous consequences.

If it is desired to breed these birds in captivity, a healthy accli-
matised pair of adult birds should be selected, and a properly constructed
out-door aviary, of not less than ten feet by six, set apart for their
special use; or, if it be desired to associate them with others of their
congeners, these should be of size to cope successfuly with the Bauers,
which, as we have said, are tyranically disposed towards weaker subjects
than themselves; but in this case the area of the enclosure should be
proportionately greater.

The Bauer breeds in the hollow branches, technically “spouts”, of
the gum trees in its native Valleys, and a decaying log, or an arti-
fically constructed wooden nest must be supplied for domestic purposes
in the aviary; when the birds being of an inquisitive turn will soon
commence to explore the new article of furniture, and probably end
by making the use of it for which it was placed in their abode.

If the floor of the open portion of the aviary can be laid down with
grass, it will not only add materially to the appearance of the place,
but tend to the comfort and amusement, and consequently the health
of the inmates; which, it must be remembered, are ground Parrakeets ;
that is to say, seek, in their wild state, the greater part of their food
among the growing grasses of their native land, upon the seeds of
which they mainly subsist.

It is said that they also eat the larvae of the white ant, so common
in decaying logs in the Australian bush, and this is by no means
improbable; but in captivity these birds, and their congeners, with one
or two exceptions, do extremely well without insect food, at least for
some generations; for, ultimately, all aviary bred Parrakeets, of whatever
species, appear to degenerate, and it is just possible that this

BAUER’S PARRAKEET. 15

deficiency in the matter of animal food may be at the bottom of the
vexatious deterioration in size, stamina and appearance, that is so very
noticeable among the more easily obtained species of Australian
Parrakeets; whether Grass Parrakeets, Broadtails, or New Zealand
Concinna: so that amateurs who find their stock degenerating, might
try and recuperate it by a liberal supply of insect food.

Bauer’s and Barnard’s Parrakeets are not unfrequently confounded,
not only with each other, but with a third congener commonly called
the Australian Ring-necked Parrakeet, Platycercus semitorquatus, but
only by persons who are unacquainted with the birds themselves, which
differ most materially from each other in general appearance.

It is probable that we shall treat of Semitorquatus during the course
of this work, if not in the present volume; but its place will depend
upon how soon we are able to obtain a living specimen, as an
acquaintance, if only of a few weeks’ duration, with a bird, is worth
all that one could read about it in a year, and re-produce at second-
hand; a determination that will account for the somewhat erractic
course of description that we have adopted in these volumes, where
no scientific arrangement is attempted, but a chronological order
adopted instead. Our plan may not be without some inconvenience,
but it has this merit, at all events, to recommend it to our readers,
we are personally acquainted with the birds we write about; or, if in
a few instances we should be unable to obtain livmg specimens of
species necessary for the completion of the work, the account will
be taken from reliable sources.

The Hon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton sends the following account
of Bauer's or the Port Lincoln Parrakeet.

I wave not kept this bird myself, but as I have a friend who has
one, I wrote for an account of it, which I subjoin :—

“Polly has led too respectable a life to have any story attached to
her.” (This is not quite the case, for I myself let out Polly once, who
immediately showed the usual disposition of all long-tailed Parrakeets
to stray; and was eventually found, having taken up with but mediocre
company at some distance—/f.G.D.) “Her disposition is exceedingly
sweet; emphatically it may be said of her that her bark is worse than
her bite. Only once has the latter made the least impression, and
that under circumstances of great aggravation—the former would have
finished Job’s patience, without any need of his friends’ intervention ;
and almost daily upsets the temper of the whole family. It is not so

16 BAUER’S PARRAKEBRT.

much loud or shrill as simply exasperating. Her whistle is very pretty,
and she evidently has a good ear for music, as she picked up the air
There’s nae luck about the house, on her own account, during her voyage
from Australia; but in that respect her career has been a blighted
one—not having fallen into the possession of a whistling family.

She eats anything that is given her, and I grieve to say is anything
but a teetotaller; she drank up with avidity and no bad results a
spoonful of whiskey, which was given her once as an experiment.

Only twice has her health given any cause for uneasiness, and then
warmth brought her round at once. No care is ever taken of her,
and it is only lately we have even thought of covering her up at
night, and then only for fear of cats. Her cleanliness, alas! leaves
much to be desired. She abhors washing, and only expresses a wish
for a tub about twice a year, and then evidently bitterly repents it
in shivering sulkiness.. She undoubtedly thrives under the no tub
system, and we have left off trying to force it on her.

I can think of no other particulars respecting her. She is a dear
little engaging creature, and shows her discrimination by thoroughly
objecting to children. During her quiet moments, to know her is to
love her—in her more demonstrative hours, she might be usefully
viewed as a heavy cross in life.

Since forwarding the above I saw a very charming Port Lincoln
exhibited in the last Crystal Palace Show (1886). It whistled a tune,
said a word or two, and seemed most anxious to court the notice of
every one. It gave me a very high idea of the attractiveness of Port
Lincolns as pets.”

PARNARD'S PARRAKEET,

17

SBARNARD’S OR THE BuLLA Buia
4PARRAKEET.

Psittacus Barnardi.
Synonyms: Platycercus Barnardi; Barnardius typicus, ete.
Frencw: Perruche de Barnard. German: Barnard’s Sittich.

oN ee are pretty well agreed in bestowing upon this handsome
Broadtail the specific name of Barnard, from a French naturalist of
repute towards the close of the last century; Prince C. Bonaparte
alone departing from the example of other writers by naming the bird
in question Barnardius typicus, or the typical Barnard. It is even more
scarce than Bauer, from which a glance at the plate will show the
reader that it differs considerably; especially in having a deep crimson
frontlet.

Tt is about the size of the last named bird, and equally hardy, but
more amiable and engaging; it is also even of less frequent occurrence
in captivity than Bauer’s Parrakeet, and is consequently dearer; nor
is there any instance on record, that the writer igs aware of, of its
having as yet re-produced itself in confinement.

The female is very like her mate, but her colours are much less
bright than his, and she is perceptibly smaller.

None of the Broadtails make good talkers, and Barnard is no ex-
ception to this rule. Occasionally a male reared from the nest will
learn to say, in a very small voice, a simple word or two, but generally
his linguistic attamments are confined to the repetition of the word
“Joey;” he very rarely reaching such an advanced standard of edu-
cation as to say “Pretty Joey,” though one such instance is on record;
but the bird in question must have been exceptionally intelligent,
and one cannot expect to meet with such a phenomenon every day;
but they learn to whistle very prettily.

III. c

18 BARNARD S PARRAKEET.

This Parrakeet is believed to feed, at least partially, on white ants
but appears nevertheless to do very well indeed without any such
delicacies in captivity; though possibly the fact that it has not yet
nested in confinement, may be owing to the insufficiently stimulating
nature of its enforced seed diet, and the connoisseur who is desirous of
having aviary-bred Barnards in his collection would do well to try the
effect of adding daily a few meal-worms, or a small handful of scoured
gentles, or their pupz, to the bill of fare.

In the Colonies this handsome bird is known by the name of the
Bulla Bulla Parrakeet; why, it would be difficult to say, for it has
little of the melodious vocalization and imitative powers of the Lyre
Bird (Menura superba), to which the natives of Australia have allotted
the same designation.

There are few sights prettier than a large aviary well supplied with
branches and a turfed floor and inhabited by a collection of Australian
Broadtails, of which there are many species, nearly all of which are
about the same size; the exceptions being the Pennant, Adelaide,
Rosella, and Stanley. The two first are considerably larger than the
species under consideration, while the Rosella, and especially the Stanley
are smaller; the latter, indeed, not being much bigger than the Hlegant
Grass Parrakeet.

All the Broadtails get on very well together, and in fact some of
the so-called species are only local varieties of each other; thus the
Pennant and Adelaide Broadtails are very closely connected, and the
same may be said of the Rosella and the Palliceps, commonly called
the Mealy Rosella; while, notwithstanding the great difference in size,
we believe Stanley’s Parrakeet to be a very near relation indeed of
Platycercus eximius, the Rosella, or Rosehill Parrakeet.

Be that as it may, there is no doubt that Hximius and Palliceps
have paired together in captivity, and produced fertile young ones that
have had others equally capable of reproduction, and combining in
their own persons the colours and markings of their parents, which
they transmitted unchanged to their own progeny; thus, in our opinion
at all events, establishing beyond possibility of dispute the generic
identity of the two varieties.

Whether it would be possible to perpetuate this new variety, or
whether, as in the case of the Golden and Ambherst Pheasants; the
progeny, of successive generations would revert to one or other of the
progenitorial types, and not continue the mixture of the two species,
remains to be proved; but analogy would lead one to suppose that the
former supposition would be the more likely of the two to be correct;
unity and not confusion, being without question, the order of the day

-*

BARNARD’S PARRAKEET. 19

in nature; notwithstanding all that has been said about accidental
variation and natural selection.

But we are wandering from our Barnards, which, on the whole, we
consider preferable, as inmates of the aviary, to Bauer’s Parrakeets,
though they are not more fitted than the latter for cage life; and
should never be immured within the narrow limits of even the very
largest cage that could be provided for their use indoors, in which
they certainly would never attempt to breed; whatever chance there
might be of their doing so in a large well-furnished avairy out of
doors.

The Western Aviary at the Zoological Gardens, in the Regent’s
Park, is our beau ideal of what a Parrot aviary should be; but instead
of dividing it into so many compartments, we should only make three;
placing in the middle the larger species, the medium sized occupying
one wing, and the pigmy parrots, such as the different species of
love-birds, the third. It might be a noisy collection, but it would be
a most interesting and delightful one; the only drawback, that it would
be impossible to have any living plants in it: grass, however, would
be possible, and, if renewed every season, a great improvement; but
there should be an abundance of logs of wood, dead trees in fact
with all their branches on; and in these, many of the prisoners would
excayate themselves nests. Other nesting boxes, or rather logs, should
of course be provided, and we are convinced that such an institution
would, not only be quite self supporting, but actually pay well by
the sale of the young stock that would certainly be obtained in
such a place.

With the exception of the Lories, all Parrots are seed-eaters, and
give very little trouble indeed in the matter of food, but a stream of
water should be contrived to percolate through the aviary, and a
rockery or two would add materially to its attractions.

The sparsely timbered forests of South Western’ Australia form the
chief habitat of this species, which is not numerous, even there, and
is consequently but seldom captured and imported, which is a fact to
be deplored by connoisseurs; who, if they could obtain Barnard’s at
a more reasonable figure might not only breed them freely in their
avaries, but cross the three species, Bauer’s, Barnard’s, and the
Australian Ring-neck; and determine, once for all, whether these birds
were really three distinct species, or only local varieties of one.

If the cross-bred progeny proved to be capable of reproduction, the
latter hypothesis would be established, but on the contrary if they
were sterile, it would be proved beyond a doubt, that the birds were
distinct. While the price, however, remains as high as it is, this

20 BARNARD S PARRAKHET.

desirable consummation is not likely to be reached, and now that avarists
have lost one of their best friends, by the untimely death of Mr.
A.H.Jamrach, who did so much to popularise the fancy for foreign birds,
by bringing down the almost prohibitive prices of other dealers to
more reasonable figures, as well as by the importation of new species
and varieties, the solution of this and kindred problems is further off
than ever. .

Barnard’s Parrakeet is also occasionally called the Falcon-breasted
Parrakeet, and its designation of Bulla Bulla has also been applied to
the Yellow-collared Broadtail, which is known to the colonists of
Western Australia by the name of “Twenty-eight”? Parrot, from the
fancied resemblance of its cry to those words.

Maskep f ARRAKEET,

21

WMIASKED “RARRAKEET.

Psittacus personatus.
Synonyms: P. larvatus; Pyrrhulopsis personata; Platycercus personatus.
Franca: Perroguet masqué. Guruan: Maskensittich.

T is a curious fact that each group of islands in the Pacific Ocean,
i nay even each little isolated rock that rears its verdant head above
the watery wilderness, can boast of an avifauna peculiarly its own.
Not to mention the great insular continent of Australia, and the islands
composing the New Zealand group, we find New Caledonia, Phillip
Island, the Fiji, Samoa and Tonga Islands each possessing Parrots,
or Parrakeets of its own that are not to be met with elsewhere.

The Masked Parrakeet is a case in point: itis a native of the Fijian
Archipelago, and is peculiar to it, nor does it appear to be very
numerous even there. It is a strange-looking, but rather handsome
bird, about the size of the King Parrot, but with a smaller head, and
is very loosely feathered. The face and head are jet black, hence the
specific name applied to it—‘“Masked’’; the belly is orange, and the
rest of the body green, but on the wings are numerous black and
blue shades. The eyes are reddish yellow, and the legs, feet, and
beak black.

Authors have bestowed upon this bird the various generic designations
of Aprosmictus, Coracopsis, Platycercus, Prosopaea, Psittacus, and Pyr-
rhulopsis.

It is a quiet bird, seldom giving utterance to a little squeal not
unlike that of Pileatus, and by no means disagreeable or distressing
to the most sensitive ear. It ig not particularly intelligent or inter-
esting, and but for its handsome plumage and gentle habits is not one
that we should care to keep. We have an idea, which needs to be
confirmed by observation, that Pyrrhulopsis splendens, the Red Shining
Parrakeet, is the female of the species under consideration; our reason

22 MASKED PARRAKEET.

being the great similarity of these birds to the Hclecti, in which sub-
family the females are, contrary to the usual custom among birds, more
showily attired than their male companions; and the remarkable fact
that no female of P. personatus, or male of P. splendens, has yet been
recorded.

It is a pity both species, if species they be, are so scarce and con-
sequently expensive; for were they to be met with more frequently in
the bird market, they would soon be much cheaper, and experiments
might be made in the way of breeding them; and if success were
obtained in this direction, all doubt upon the subject of their specific
identity or non-identity would be set at rest.

If amateurs cannot accomplish this, surely some Zoological Society
might take the matter up, and earn the thanks of naturalists, by solving
a problem that will probably not be determined without their aid.

Dr. Russ quotes the price of P. personatus at from one hundred and
twenty to one hundred and sixty marks—the mark being about equivalent
to an English shillmg—and states that “the cost of P. splendens is
so high that it is only accessible to Zoological Gardens, from which,
however, we have not much to hope in the way of practical experiment.”

It is probable than the Amboina Parrot, described by Bechstein, is
P. splendens. The old German author considered his bird to be a
male, and gave the description of a supposed female; which we are
unable to identify with any known variety or species. “In the female
(of the Amboina Parrot) the head is green; the throat, the under part
of the neck, and the breast, are the same, but having a reddish tint.
The small tail coverts are dark green, edged with red; the tail itself
s tinged with green. The beak is horn-brown, with a reddish tint
above and below.”

Hither the above description refers to an immature male of Apros-
mictus scapulatus, or it is that of some other species with which we
are unacquainted.

P. personatus has large and broad wings, and is doubtless gifted
with strong powers of flight; but the one specimen of the species we
have had under observation, has, at some time or other, had one of
its pinions broken, and is quite unable to fly. It is, as we have said,
a quiet and silent bird, peaceable too, and not given to bite. It does
not appear to be endowed with the capacity for destruction for which
some of the preceding species are so notorious, and on that account,
as well as on that of its good. qualities already enumerated, we can
recommend it to the notice of amateurs who like to let their pets out
about the room, but at the same time have a reasonable objection
to seeing their furniture wrecked; as both “Pilate” and “Pinto”

MASKED PARRAKEET. 23

would wreck it, if they were not strictly watched and checked when
about to indulge their mischievous propensities.

Canary seed, hemp, maize, fruit and bread or biscuit moistened in
water, will keep one of these birds in health for years. They are fairly
hardy, and might, probably, to keep successfully all the year round in
an out-door avairy; but upon this point the writer is without information.

apeete
Nive

Poa

SHINING PARRAKEET.

RED
/

25

RED SHINING “PARRAKEET.

Psittacus splendens, Auctorum.

Synonyms: Aprosmictus splendens, Br., Css.;
_Platycercus splendens, Hrtr., Gr.; Pyrrhulopsis splendens, Sou.
Frencu: Perruche pourpre de Fidjt.

German: Der Glanzsittich, oder der purpurothe glanzende
Platischweissittich, Rss.

ROM the unanimity with which all the writers who have treated of

the subject of the present notice have awarded to it the specific
designation splendens, it is natural to conclude that it must be a very
strikingly beautiful creature, and that such is really the case, a glance
at the life-like figure on the opposite page, will no doubt convince the
most sceptical reader.

Truly the Red Shining Parrakeet, Aprosmictus, Platycercus, or
Pyrrhulopsis splendens, is one of the most remarkable members of the
Parrot family, though it is rather a matter of dispute with which
sub-family of them it should be connected. The present writer is of
opinion that the term Platycereus should be reserved, especially for the
distinctive and well-known natural group of the Australian Broadtails ;
while the sub-generic term Aprosmictus is an unnecessary distinction,
and might very well be abolished. There remains therefore only the
term Pyrrhulopsis, which is fairly applicable and sufficiently desirable ;
though Dr. Karl Russ rejects it, alluding to it incidentally, with a
note of exclamation after it in brackets (!).

Pyrrhulopsis splendens, the Red Shining Parrot, is a native of the
Fiji Islands, especially of the Viti sub-group of that archipelago,
where it used to be very plentiful, and is yet to be encountered in
considerable numbers.

It is by no means a delicate bird, and when fairly acclimatised can
stand any weather and almost any kind of treatment. It is very teachable

26 RED SHINING PARRAKEET.

and Dr. Russ records the fact that any one of these birds exhibited
by Fraulin Hagenbeck at the “Ornis” Show in 1880, was an
excellent talker (ein sehr gut sprechendes exemplar), of which the
price was six hundred marks, or £30. Another, on the same authority,
is said to have been purchased from Herr Blaaw, of Amsterdam, for
two hundred and fifty marks by Herr Director Scheuba, who gives it a
good character on the whole, but complains that his bird was in a
chronic state of moult; which may possibly be due to the fact, that it
was accustomed to partake freely of cayenne pepper with its food.

The great similarity between three or four species or varieties of
these Parrakeets has given rise to some confusion; for instance, the
Amboina Parrakeet, the Tabuan Parrakeet, the subject of our present
notice, and the well known King Parrakeet have a strong family
likeness, more especially the three first; and have not unfrequently
been mistaken one for the other. The specific differences however
are considerable, as will be seen on comparing the plate of the last
mentioned species, and that of the Red Shining Parrakeet; the Amboina
and Tabuan species we have not yet illustrated, but hope to be in a
position to do so before the completion of this work; when it will be
readily seen in what respect they differ from their congeners.

In the present species the beak is blackish brown with a reddish
tinge, below the surface as it were; the eye, or rather the iris, is
bright reddish yellow; the lores, forehead, and back of the neck are deep
shining red, and the latter terminates with a distinct collar of deep
ultramarine blue; the wing coverts are brilliant green, but the flight
feathers and the spurious wing feathers are deep blue, though in some
lights the latter have a greenish tinge. The rump and upper tail
coverts are bright green; the throat, breast, and belly, brilliant crimgon.
Variations of colour are not, however, of uncommon occurrence, and
are due probably to age.

We had an idea at one time that this beautiful bird, following the
analogy of the Hclecti, was the female of the Masked Parrakeets, but
so many observers have recorded the fact that the female of the Red
Shining Parrakeet resembles the male, although, perhaps, somewhat
less brilliantly tinted; that we are forced to abandon our hypothesis,
at least for the present.

The chief points of difference between the subject of our present
notice and the King Parrakeet are, first, the size; and secondly, the
colour of the beak. The Red Shining Parrakeet is considerably smaller
than the King, and the latter has a coral-red beak, which fades in old
subjects; and after death, to dull reddish orange.

When wild these birds are said to feed chiefly on seeds and berries,

RED SHINING PARRAKEET. 27

but in the house they can be kept in rude health for a considerable
time on canary seed, maize, and oats; a little hemp may be added
-now and then, also ripe fruit; but animal food of any kind should
never be given, and this cannot be too frequently insisted on; but
half decayed wood is necessary to their comfort if not to their existence,
which last will certainly be cut short, unless the birds are provided
with a sufficiency of coarse grit, preferably flint stones broken up
small; which are a powerful aid to digestion, and serve them when
swallowed in lieu of teeth.

The Red Shining Parrot has a frequent but not disagreeable cry,
and as we have said, is eminently docile and in every respect desirable
as an inmate of the cage and aviary.

-In writing of the Splendid Pyrrhulopsis Dr. Russ says that it is only
found in the Viti group of the Fiji Islands, “where it attracts attention
in the mangrove forests not only by its brilliant colours, but less
agreeably by its loud cries’; an assertion, as regards the noise, which
requires confirmation.

The doctor further states that these birds do much. damage to the
maize crops, and are consequently hateful to the farmers, who pursue
them without mercy, and that owing to this persecution they are
learning to be watchful and silent; a fact which, if established, would
tend to prove them gifted with no small amount of intelligence.

‘The brood consists of three” according to the same authority, and
if taken from the nest, the young birds become very tame.

The description of the supposed male only is given, and it is said
to be an excellent talker, though awkward and clumsy in a cage.

“With the exception of its gorgeous plumage”’, continues Dr. Russ,
“T have failed to find any pleasant qualities in the Red Shining
Parrakeet, nevertheless I believe that all these large Parrakeets would
develope a completely different character, if they were kept in a large
aviary, where they had room to fly about”, which is incontestable.

The Hon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’s account of
° Pyrrhulopsis splendens.

Tue Red Shining Parrakeet, as P. splendens is called, is most like
the King Parrot both in colour and shape, so that it is not surprising
some authors have called it by their generic name, Aprosmictus.

The beak and feet are black; its head and breast are dark crimson.
There is a blue band at the heck, and the back is dark shining green,
from which it may get its name of Shining Parrakeet. The tail feathers,
according to Dr. Russ, are “blue with green edges at the base on the

28 RED SHINING PARRAKEET.

outer web, the two central ones green, with blue tips extending about
one-third of the length. But as it must be nearly twenty years since
I had mine, and I only had one, I cannot describe it better than by
saying it is very like a King Parrot, only that the beak is black, and
the crimson much darker. Its eyes, like those of the Masked Parrot,
have bright orange irides, so as to give it a wild look.

I found my bird dull and quiet. I do not remember its being noisy.
Its one occupation was to scratch all day at the bottom of the cage.
I wish some one would kindly explain what Parrots mean when they
do this. My Jardine’s Parrot is always doing it. I sometimes wonder
is if the sign of a hen bird, and is it the burrowing preparatory to
making a nest. If it was, it never laid an egg with me, but I soon
parted with it to the Zoological Gardens. It did not long survive, and
I have reason to think that this and the Masked Parrakeet are pecu-
harly liable to decline. I do not think any specimen has lived very
long in captivity, and I cannot but suspect that we have not discovered
its right diet. I believe I fed mine on hemp and canary seed, and I
probably gave it sop, but it is now so long ago that I cannot be sure.
The general price of these birds is £5, though I gave only £3 for
mine. The Masked Parrakeet is worth about £4, but they seldom
come into the market. I intend some day, when I can secure a
thoroughly healthy bird, to try the Masked Parrakeets, and perhaps to
have another attempt with Splendens.

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QUAKER OR [PP REY-PREASTED PARRAKEET,

29

UAKER, GREY-BREASTED, OR

WionTE WipEO “PARRAKEET.

Psitiacus Monachus.
Synonyms: Bolborrhyncus monachus, Psittaca calita,
Myiopsitia murina, ete.
France: Perruche Souris. Guruan: Ménchspapaget oder Quiker.

| 2S the most curious fact connected with the natural history
of the Psittacide, is the nidificating instinct of the Quaker Parra-
keet, which, departing from the general habits of the genus, builds
itself a nest of sticks among the branches of a tree; while all its
congeners make their breeding burrows in the hollow limbs or trunks
of trees, or, in a few instances in the ground, or under the roots of
a tree.

The nest of this bird is a very large structure, composed of the
long thin terminal branches of trees, which are in-laced so firmly by
the builder, that it is quite a difficult matter to tear one of them to
pieces; it is domed like the nest of a magpie, and has usually two
openings, one perhaps for entrance and the other for exit. |

In captivity the same habit is retained, at least in the generality of
cases, for M. Rousse, whom we have already quoted in another con-
nection, relates, that his Perruches Souris were in the habit of filling
up their nest-boxes with everything they could find; “ remplissent
leurs mids de tout ce qu’elles trouvent;” whereas those in the possession
of the present writer, although they had numerous nest boxes at their
disposal, refused to have anything to say to them, but covered over
a seed box with the twigs taken from a birch broom; of which
domestic implements they used up three before the nest was finished to
their liking. The shallow box was first filled with twigs, cut in suitable

30 QUAKER PARRAKEET.

lengths strongly matted together; and then roofed over with longer
branches very firmly interlaced. In the first instance a doorway was
left in the side of the nest facing north, but the birds finding,
apparently, that this exposed them too much to the weather, deliberately
cut another doorway facing west, and then filled up the former
opening; closing it completely with an extra thickness of twigs.

They made use of no softer material for lining their abode, in which,
although no eggs have been laid, both male and female pass the night
and a great part of the day, but made the floor of the nest of small
twigs; reserving the larger for the sides and roof.

Owing to the position in which the box was placed, the shape of
the nest is flat, instead of being round, as usually happens when the
birds are at full liberty; but to render it more secure they have threaded
a large number of sticks through the wires of the aviary, close to
which the box happened to be placed. Before finally selecting this
situation, the female made several attempts to build in other places
but soon abandoned them; and after her nest was fairly under way,
made use of the materials she had already collected elsewhere to
complete it.

It would be extremely curious and interesting if any one could find
out why these birds have so widely departed, in the matter of nest
building, from the habits of the race to which they belong; but that
is a point that will probably never be satisfactorily cleared up, so
that we must, perforce, remain contented with our ignorance. A cor-
respondent has suggested, that perhaps instead of having taken a new
departure, Monachus may be the only Parrot that has persisted in
the old custom of nidification, once common to all its congeners; but
this view we take to be extremely unlikely. Indeed it stands to reason,
we think, that a universal change of the habits of a race, with one
solitary exception; is less likely, far less likely, to have occurred,
than that one member of that race should, from whatever cause, have
worked out a new line of action for itself. Be that as it may, it is
little less curious than in captivity the habit should have been occa-
sionally departed from, as happened in the case of M. Rousse’s birds;
“aut remplissent lewrs nids de tout ce quwelles peuvent trouver,’ as he
repeats in another part of his book on “Aviculture.”

Mr. Sydney C. Buxton, of Fox Warren, Cobham, Surrey, relates
in the Animal World for 1878, page 179, the history of a pair of
these birds that were in his possession at one time. “Five years ago
I brought back from South America, two small green paraquets,
which I had taken when young from their nests. These two little
birds became very tame and familiar; and it was a pretty sight to see

QUAKER PARRAKHET. 31

them hovering, humming-bird-like, in the air and pecking at a lump of
sugar held in one’s hand. Like all the paraquet tribe, however, they
would not allow their heads to be scratched—the one thing above
all others that a cockatoo considers blissful. These two were turned
out about September, and early in October they began to build a
nest on the top of a large vase, which stood in the open hall. Of
course, according to their calculations, the spring should have been
well forward by October. They must have thought the winter un-
accountably mild, and the spring and summer too disgustingly cold.

“Nhe nest was formed of silver birch twigs, twined and matted
together making one solid mass. The tiny birds looked very graceful
flying into the hall with a long sprig of birch trailing behind them,
Once, when the nest was almost three feet high, the whole of it was
blown down, but they did not seem to mind, and when it was put
up again they went on adding twig to twig as if nothing had happened.
During the process of building they unmercifully attacked any birds
that attempted to come near the precious nest. One old cockatoo had
to be kept indoors, so savagely did they attack him; and the doves,
who also inhabit the garden hall, had anything but a pleasant time
of it. Unfortunately (in January,) before the nest was finished, we
had to come up to London, and one day, very soon after we had
left, the birds disappeared; the nest, as then left, was some five feet
high and about six feet in circumference at the top. The birds never
showed any desire to lay eggs, but probably when the warm weather
came they would have made some use of their stupendous erection.”

From the above interesting account of what we presume to be
Quaker Parrakeets, for we are not aware of any other American species
that build nests of twigs; we gather, first, that the little architects,
which by the way are as large in the body as a Bengal Parrakeet,
and with larger heads, were young and inexperienced; or, instead of
going on heaping twig upon twig until their edifice attained the
enormous dimensions stated, they would have roofed it over before it
had reached one quarter of the size, and have finished it off as neatly
as our own birds have done, and with greater elegance, no doubt; for
they had green twigs to work with, and our Parrakeets, dry and
consequently inelastic branchlets only.

Mr. Buxton calls his birds “tiny,” but the Quakers can scarcely be
so designated correctly, except as compared with the large cockatoos
and macaws of which this gentleman had a goodly stock at the
same time. His birds seem to haye been somewhat quarrelsome and
aggressive in their habits, but we have never noticed that ours interfere
with their companions, or even resent their approach; in fact some

32 QUAKER PARRAKEET.

impudent greenfinches that inhabit the same enclosure actually sit on
some of the projecting sprigs of birch of which the nest igs built,
without the Quakers molesting them in the least, or indeed taking
any notice of their presence. A pair of New Zealand Parrakeets too
run over the most in their quick mouse-like fashion, without, as far
as can be detected, provoking the resentment of the owners; who,
possibly, may be a particularly even-tempered pair. They are not
very young we know, and that may account for their superior skill
in nest construction, no less than for their amiable and forbearing
disposition ; for youth is apt to be resentful at times, and mature age,
not senility, is, or should be, more tolerant. Birds, too, like men,
gather wisdom by experience, whence the superior architectural skill
of our pair, which certainly greatly exceeds that of their youthful
compatriots at Tox Warren; for the former work with an evident
object in view, which the latter apparently lacked.

A nest five feet high, and six in circumference at the top, must
have taken a goodly number of birch twigs to construct, and the
havoc wrought among the surrounding trees must have been con-
siderable. Needless to mention, that it would be perfectly useless to
plant trees or shrubs in any space where a pair of Quaker Parrakeets
were confined.

“Quaker” ? Why are these birds called by the popular designation
of the estimable people who name themselves “Friends”? It is difficult
to say; but possibly on account of the fact that the head, throat and
breast of these birds is of that delicate pearly shade of grey, so often
affected by the lady members of that Society ; but there the resemblance
ceases, for the remainder of the plumage is bright grass green excepting
the flight feathers, which are blue. The beak, somewhat large for the
size of the owner, is white, horn-white, with a slight shade of brown.
The legs and feet are lead colour, and the former are short and stout,
indicating arboreal habits. .

Azara, who first described these birds, gave them the name of
“Young widows, because no Parrots show such an amount of smart
and coquettish ways as these,” which, it must be confessed, is a little
hard on the ladies. Azara, however, may, on the whole be considered a
reliable authority, and although his first account of these nest-building
Parrots was received by naturalists with incredulity, his observations
have since been amply confirmed by subsequent travellers in the same
regions, of whom it will be sufficient to name Darwin and Burmeister ;
as well as by numerous exhibitions of their nest-building proclivities
in various aviaries and Zoological Gardens.

If the Quaker Parrot is not, as we have seen, a showy bird, it

QUAKER PARRAKEET. 33

certainly cannot be recommended for its figure, which is clumsy in the
extreme; the large head and thick neck being made to look larger
still by the habit of keeping the feathers on these parts ruffed up,
after the manner of the domestic cat when it puffs out the hairy
covering’ of its tail.

In captivity, that is to say in a cage, these Parrakeets will learn
to speak a little, but their unbearable cries, in which they frequently
indulge, are simply insupportable.

A lady of our acquaintance was possessed of a splendid Grey
Parrot, a beloved and highly accomplished bird, which was the delight
of his mistress, and well deserved the care and attention she was
never weary of lavishing upon it; one day, however, a friend presented
her with one of these wretched birds which, the moment it was re-
leased from its travelling box, commenced to pour forth a series of the
most appalling shrieks, an accomplishment of which these Parrakeets
are perfect masters; and the Grey Parrot caught up the hideous sounds,
and has repeated them at intervals ever since; much to the dismay
of the lady who owns it, and the other members of the house-
hold; and that although the offending “Quaker” was speedily sent
away.

It is curious that when at liberty, or comparative liberty, in an out-
door ayairy, these birds should very seldom scream, but so it is, and
the ayiary out of doors would appear to be their more suitable des-
tination; since they are quieter there, and being perfectly hardy, the
aviarist need not fear that the cold will do them any harm. On the
contrary, their plumage is much improved by the change from the cage
and house; and wears a kind of bloom that is in vain looked for
in-doors. Nor is this remarkable since the home of this bird is in
the western parts of South America, Paraguay, the Argentine Confed-
eration, and Bolivia; where it is found on the mountain ranges at an
elevation of from three to four thousand feet above the sea level.

Bechstein, among other writers, credits the Grey-breasted Parrakeet
with the faculty of imitating human speech; and Gibson, a traveller in
its native land, speaks of having heard wild birds of this species
erying “Pretty Poll!” as they passed by in their rapid undulating
flight from their feeding grounds; which by the way to us appears
to be a somewhat hazardous flight of that. author’s imagination.
“Often,” he writes, “in passing through the forest, I heard, to my
astonishment, a bird of this species crying hoarsely “Pretty Poll!’
We presume it was the Spanish equivalent of “Pretty Poll” that Gibson
heard them say, but further comment is superfluous.

Dr. Willink, of Utretcht, a great admirer of the Grey-breasted

III. D

34 QUAKER PARRAKEET.

Parrakeets, was recently in possession of an individual of this species
which, according to the account of his friend Dr. Russ, “speaks as
clearly as the best Grey Parrot, but, in spite of this, has not left off
its dreadful screech, which unfortunately it utters only too often.”

The breeding season of these birds in their native country commences
in November, and they have not as yet adapted themselves to the change
of seasons in this northern hemisphere, but begin their curious nest-
building labours at the same time they used to do at home; and
consequently their attempts at multiplying their species in captivity
generally end in failure; in the course of time, perhaps, they will
understand the difference of the seasons and accommodate themselves
to their altered circumstances; as many of their congeners, notably the
Broadtails and Grass Parrakeets, have already in great measure done.

The Grey-breasted Parrakeet is about eleven inches in length, of
which the tail measures five; it is stoutly built, and from its habit
of bristling up the feathers of the head and neck, looks more bulky
than it really is.

The grey feathers of the breast are edged with a line of a lighter
shade of the same colour, which is wanting in young birds; and the
male has a slight shade of reddish purple on his breast, by which he
can be readily distinguished from his consort.

“This pretty Parrot,’ says Bechstein, writing towards the close of
the last century, “distinguished by its silvery grey colour, is about the
size of the turtle-dove. Its ruffling the feathers of its head, particularly
on the cheeks, added to the smallness and peculiar way in which it
holds its bill, which is always buried in its breast, gives it somewhat
the appearance of a small screech owl. It is very mild, speaks but
little, and even seems to be of a melancholy turn. Its call is loud
and sonorous. It is the same species which is mentioned in the travels
of Bougainville, by Pernetty. ‘We found it,’ says he, ‘at Montevideo,
where our sailors bought. several at two piastres a-piece. These birds
were very tame and harmless; they soon learnt to speak, and became so
fond of the men that they were never easy when away from them.’ The
general opinion is that they will not live more than a year and a half if
kept in a cage, but this prejudice is entirely unfounded.”’ Commenting
on the foregoing extract from the pages of the Father of bird-lore, it is
only necessary to observe that these birds are still comparatively cheap,
the price varying from five shillings to seven shillings and sixpence a
pair; although occasionally they can be purchased for even a smaller sum
than that first mentioned. The reason of this is, that they are not
particularly handsome, as a glance at the illustration will shew; that they
are common in their native country and frequently imported, sometimes

QUAKER PARRAKEET. 30

in large numbers; nor are they favourites with those amateurs who
have made their acquaintance on account of their noisy habits.

From all we have said, however, it will be gathered that could their
disposition to screech be overcome, their tameness and capacity for
learning to speak would soon endear them to their owners, and make
other connoisseurs desirous of obtaining them; but in any case the
curious nest-building propensities, and the great hardiness of these
Parrakeets, are surely enough to recommend them to more favourable
notice than has been accorded them of late; for there is much truth
in the homely adage “Give a dog a bad name, and hang it!” as well
as in the converse proposition. The Quaker Parrakeets are seldom
praised by the dealers, and consequently, notwithstanding their numerous
good qualities, are not very often inquired after by connoisseurs.

Our esteemed correspondent Mrs. Cassirer pleasantly accounts in the
following manner for the deviation from the habits of the race, in the
matter of nest building, of the Quaker or Grey-breasted Parrakeet:—
“T, though a Parrot, find that as I live in bogs and marshes, the
trunks of trees and branches are apt to be damp, and my young to
be drowned by a sudden rising of the waters, therefore I will build
on trees, and since I am good tempered and sociable, I will join my
sisters for our common protection from enemies; and since I do
not want to climb, I will carry up sticks in my beak, and I will line
my nest with soft grass for health.’

Well, that is very prettily put, and may be the true solution of the
puzzle; indeed, we will go further, and say that probably it is: but
so far our Quakers have not used any lining for their nest, though
we have placed hay and fibre at ther disposal; but may be they do
not consider their edifice complete, though they sleep in it every night.

Mrs. C. Buxton writes, “You will be interested to know that, two
years ago, our ‘Monte Videan Parrakeets’ built a nest on the top of
a slender tall fir, and brought up a brood of four. We lost all but
three. Next year two of them brought up a brood of five in the same
nest; but we lost all these. They stray and do not return. This year
we got four more from Jamrach. They were happily domesticated,
and began collecting sticks for a nest, taking no notice of the old one.
Then one killed itself against the windows, and two have disappeared,
and now we have only one left.”

The next figured is drawn from one made in our own aviary.

37

VeELLOW-NAPED “PARRAKEET.

Psitiacus semitorquatus.

Synonyms: Platycercus semitorquatus, GuD.;
Barnardius semitorquatus, Br.; Conurus ceeruleo-barbatus, Brs.
German: Der Bandsittich, oder Der Platischweissittich mit
gelbem Halsband und rother Stirnbinde, Russ.

Frenco: Perruche Bulla Bulla,(?) ow Perruche a Collier Jaune.

HE French designatian of this handsome and most desirable

Parrakeet is manifestly given to it in error, by M. Alf. Rousse, for
Bulla Bulla is the name bv which Barnard’s Parrakeet is usually known
to dealers, and to the Colonists of South Australia and New South
Wales; where it is found. A great deal of confusion however exists
with regard to these three birds, Barnard’s, Bauer’s, and the Yellow-
naped Parrakeet, which have frequently been confounded with each other,
even by scientific writers. The late John Gould, F.R.S., however is an
authority, whose decision upon any matter connected with Australian
ornithology is not likely to be called in question, and he distinctly
differentiates them; and, in our opinion, has thoroughly made out his
case, and established them as constituting a distinct group among the
Platycercv.

The subject of the present notice is a considerably larger bird than
either Barnard’s or Bauer’s Parrakeets, approaching Pennant’s Broad-
tail in size; and presents some very curious contrasts of colour and
configuration. It is entirely destitute of os furcatum, and is consequently
limited as regards its power of flight, but on the other hand, it runs
very swiftly on the ground, and only makes use of its wings when
closely pursued. It feeds chiefly on the seeds of the indigenous grasses,
and not on the fruit and buds of the native trees, like some of its
congeners; which may be the cause or the consequence of the anatomical
deficiency above alluded to, as the reader pleases.

38 YELLOW-NAPHD PARRAKEET.

It is a handsome bird. The forehead is crossed by a narrow crimson
band; the head is blackish brown, changing gradually into blue on the
cheeks; a band of bright yellow encircles the back of the neck; the
upper surface generally is of a deep grass green colour, which becomes
paler towards the shoulders; the primaries and spurious wing feathers
are blackish brown, but the external web of each feather is deep blue;
the two central feathers of the tail are very deep grass green, but the
next pair on either side passing to blue, and are terminated by bluish
white tips: the rest of the tail feathers are green at the base passing
into blue, and ending with white; the chest is dark green, and the rest
of the under surface is a paler shade of the same colour; the irides
are dark brown; the bill horn colour; and the legs and feet dark brown.

The Yellow-naped Parrakeet is a native of Western Australia, where
Gould found it very abundant in the vicinity of Swan River. It is
hardy, and frequently caged by the Colonists, who call it the “Twenty-
eight’ Parrot, from the fancied resemblance of the last two syllables
of its call note to those words, Although essentially a ground bird, it
breeds in the hollow limbs of trees, making no nest, but laying its
seven or nine white eges on the semi-decayed wood. There are generally
two broods in the season, which extends from October to January.

Tt has not so far distinguished itself very prominently as a talker,
but it has a melodious voice, for a Parrakeet, and learns to whistle
an air with facility and correctness. Being of a gentle but withal not
timid nature, it soon becomes very familiar, not only with the person
who feeds it, but with the other inmates of the house; whom it usually
recognises by a repetition of its peculiar cry.

There is very little outward difference between the sexes; but the
adult female is decidedly smaller than her mate, and the colours of her
plumage are duller.

The young resemble their parents from the first, but are considerably
smaller than them, when they leave the nest.

M. Alfred Rousse, of Fontenay-le Comte, to whose valuable work on
L’aviculture des Perruches, we have referred more than once, says of
this species: “Cette perruche est trés robuste, et s’est déja reproduite
en voliére” (this Parrakeet is very hardy, and has already bred in
captivity), which should be an encouragement to other amateurs to
“go and do likewise”; that is to say, to buy a pair of Yellow-naped,
turn them out into a commodious aviary, and in due course, enjoy
the pleasure of seeing half a dozen or more young Parrakeets join
their parents on the perches, or branches in the enclosure.

Dealers are not to be depended upon as a rule in the matter of
names, and appear to be considerably “mixed” with regard to these

YHLLOW-NAPHD PARRAKEHET. 39

birds, which even Dr. Russ is not quite certain about, for he gives
the name of “Boa Perikit;” both to this species and to Bauer’s
Parrakeet, and in one place credits the latter with possessing a red
frontlet, (Die fremdlindischen Stubenvégel, page 142); he also gives
the length of Semitorquatus at 35 centimetres, and that of Bauer’s
Parrakeet at from 85 to 37 centimetres, which latter measurement,
144 inches, is nearer that of the Yellow-collared than of Bauer’s or
the Port Lincoln Parrakeet, from which it is readily distinguished by
its larger size, crimson frontlet, and the absence of the golden yellow
central abdominal belt; which is so conspicuous a feature in the colouring
of the latter bird. :

In captivity the subject of the present notice is fed on canary seed
chiefly, though it will also eat oats, sunflower seeds, hemp and. flat
maize. It appears to be fond of sugar, but this no doubt is an acquired
taste, and should only be cautiously permitted at long intervals; as a
bird under our observation for some time, has on several occasions
suffered from genuine bilious attacks, owing to such indulgence. A
morsel of apple or carrot every now and then is unobjectionable, as
is likewise a piece of boiled potato; but monkey-nuts are to be avoided
as apt to induce diarrhoea. Mignionette in flower is greedily devoured,
and we have never remarked any ill effect from its use. Groundsel
too, if not rank, is good for a change, and care must always be taken
to have a decayed log of wood for the bird to peck at; and plenty
of rather coarse gravel containing broken flints.

Water, we need scarcely observe, is indispensible for drinking as
well as bathing.

It is a pity these extremely interesting Parrakeets should be so
seldom imported, and consequently maintain the high price they do,
that is from £3 to £4 a pair, or even more. Latterly, however, they
have been of more frequent occurrence, but the demand for them not
haying proportionately increased in consequence of so little being
known about them by the public, they have not found the sale that
their undoubted merits as cage and aviary birds entitles them to; for
we know of few more desirable Parrakeets. One drawback they have
however, which we are reluctantly compelled to mention. Placed in the
company of other Parrakeets, or even other birds, say of the Finch
kind, they are apt to bite, and that severely, the legs and feet of

their companions; and, at least, in one instance, a nest of young Java
Sparrows was interfered with, and plucked nearly bare; apparently for
mischief’s sake only.

In the house, however, as cage birds there are fow that surpass the
Yellow-naped Parrakeet, which is intelligent, beautiful, hardy, and

40 YELLOW-NAPEHD PARRAKEET.

docile; learns in some cases to talk a little, but in all to whistle,
dance, and feed from the hand or mouth. A pair will caress each
other incessantly, and under favourable conditions, nest and carefully
bring up their young, which so far do not appear to suffer the least
deterioration from in-breeding during several generations. It would
nevertheless be desirable not to push the experiment too far.

f ANARY- WINGED fonure,

41

@ANARY-WWINGED “PARRAKEEET.

Psittacus xanthopterus.
Synonyms: Conurus wanthopterus, Brusr., Sct;
Conurus eanthopterygius, Brs.; Aratinga xanthopterus, Spx.;
Psittaculus xanthopterygius, Br.;

Sittace xanthopterus, Wet.; Psittacula wanthopterygia, Gr.; Tirica
wanthopterus, Br.; Brotogerys xanthoptera, Fuscu.
German: Der Gelbfliigelsittich, oder Der Kanarienfligelsittich.
Frencu: Perruche wanthoptere,

: Nes one of the rarest objects in the Bird-market”’, writes Dr.

Russ, “but nevertheless, no great fayourite with Fanciers and
Breeders”; a statement which the doctor proceeds to qualify by the
assertion, that the breeding of this little Parrot in confinement is desirable
in order to the clearing up of certain points connected with its devel-
opment; which however he does not specify.

It is decidedly a pretty bird, as a glance at the accompanying
plate will show, of a dark grass green colour above, lighter beneath :
and marked across the wings with a narrow yellow band; whence its
common English name of Canary-wing, or Canary-winged Parrakeet,
It is a native of the northern parts of South America, where it is of
sufficiently common occurrence, and is frequently caged, for it learns
to speak fairy well; and, if brought up from the nest, becomes very
tame and gentle, but never loses its natural note; which Herr Max
Kichler describes as “recht unangenehm”, an expression that may be
freely rendered, “quite too utterly awful’?! and this is unfortunately
true, and would altogether unfit the bird for cage-life, but for the
fact that this “exceedingly disagreeable” shriek (Geschrei) is not very
frequently uttered—only, in fact, when the bird is frightened, or in
want of something; while its many funny little ways endear it to the
amateur who has it in possession.

42, OANARY-WINGED PARRAKEET.

Dr. Luchs, who considers its cry as “by no means harsh or disagreeable”,
relates that a bird of this species which he keeps in an open cage,
has become very tame and gentle with him, though still distrustful of
strangers; in whose presence it is always shy. At breakfast the bird
comes from its cage, climbs up the window curtain, crosses two cages
and comes down the curtain on the opposite side to the sofa; whence
it makes its way to the table, where he is in the habit of feeding it
with sugar, toast, etc. If the doctor does not immediately notice it,
the little Parrakeet pecks his finger, looking at the same time appeal-
ingly up into his face. When its appetite is satisfied it returns by
the same difficult route to its abode.

Dr. Luchs is in the habit of giving two or three mealworms a day
to his Canary-wing, which has learned to ask for them, when it thinks
the time has come for the treat it has grown to look for. “Paperle”’,
it cries, “Paperle, ein Mehlwurm”’, (Little Polly, little Polly, a meal-
worm,) and other individuals of the species have displayed even greater
capacity for the acquisition of articulate speech.

So far there is no recorded instance of the Canary-wing having
bred in captivity, but as new species are yearly being found to nest
in various aviaries, it is possible that it may have done so without
the fact beimg deemed of sufficient importance to merit a notice being
sent to those papers which devote a part, or the whole, of their space
to bird matters. —

There is scarcely any perceptible outward difference between the
sexes. “I often thought that two of these birds which I possessed
were a real pair, for though the plumage was alike, one was decidedly
larger than the other, and that they would end by having a brood;
but my expectations came to nothing, for I always found the nest-box
empty, even after they had made the greatest fuss in it, and had
stayed inside for an hour at a time. Possibly they might breed if
they had a free flight in the aviary; but they are so mischievously
disposed and aggressive towards even the largest Parrakeets when they
have their liberty, that I am obliged to keep them confined. They
always combine together to attack an adversary, one waiting for the
assistance of the other.’—Thus Dr. Russ. We have not found them
worse in this respect than the other Conures, few of which can be
kept in a mixed aviary without disastrous results to the rest of the
inmates; whether large or small.

To sum up: the Canary-wing is a pretty and engaging little bird,
about the size of a thrush; it is decidedly intelligent, and has proved
itself capable of being perfectly tamed, and of learning to speak a
few words; on the other hand it has a very disagreeable screech,

OCANARY-WINGED PARRAKEET. 43

which, however, is seldom uttered without provocation. It is mischievous
and quarrelsome with its fellow captives, and has not go far been
reared in confinement. Having thus stated impartially its good and
bad qualities, it is for the amateur who reads these lines to decide

whether the bird is, or is not, a suitable or desirable acquisition for
his aviary.

(FOLDEN, OR UEEN OF PAVARIA’S PARROT.

45

&§OLDEN, OR
@UEEN OF Bavaria’s {PaRROT.

Psitiacus luteus.

Synonyms: Psittacus gouaruba, Gut.; Aratinga Caroline
Auguste, Spx.; Sittace lutea, Wat.; Conurus luteus, Gr.; Psittacara
gouaruba, Br.; Heliospitta guarouba, Br.; Psittaca lutea, Bres.
FPrencu: La Perruche dorée, ou guarouba jaune, Bren.
German: Der Goldsittich, Rss.; Gelber Keilschwanzsittich, Fuscn.

HY? wealth of colour and elegance of shape, as well as for general
intelligence and docility, the Parrots are scarcely to be surpassed
by any of the feathered tribes. From pure white to the deepest shade
of black, from scarlet and vermilion to the richest golden yellow,
from purple to sky-blue, and from dark grass green to the palest of
emerald tints; these and every combination of them are the hues that
decorate the plumage of the Psittacidw, among which there is perhaps
no more striking looking creature than the subject of the present
notice; a native of Northern Brazil, where amidst the rich tropical
vegetation, decked with myriads of blooms of the brightest and most
varied hues, is seems more like an animated blossom than a bird, as
it darts on strong unerring pinion through

“Some sylvan scene,
Where the long drooping boughs between,
Shadows dark and sunlight sheen

Alternate come and go,”

and impart fresh beauties to its form, by revealing each instant new
gradations of colour, that would have been lost to the spectator, who
had merely seen the Golden Parrot sitting motionless upon a tree,
whether in sun or shade.

46 GOLDEN . PARROT.

But after all “handsome is that handsome does,” the Golden
Conure, or Parrot, is not gifted with a melodious voice, but is, on the
contrary, master of one of the most piercing shrieks that can distress
a sensitive ear, and, worst fault of all, it will not learn to imitate the
human voice, let its fair owner charm it never so wisely with sweet
sounds; but on the other hand it becomes very tame in captivity,
and is possessed of the most endearing ways; it will climb on to
the shoulder of its owner with winning confidence, and coo pleasantly
in her ear, which it will gently kiss with its pinky white and rather
large bill; nor unless excessively provoked, will it dream of using the
latter upon even its most aggravating tormentor or relentless foe.

Bright citron yellow is the general colour of the adult bird, but as
in the case of the Hawk-headed Parrot and some others, the plumage
appears to assume different shades according to the relative position
of the spectator and the Parrot with regard to the light, as well as
to the brilliancy or deficiency of the latter. In our gloomy Hnglish
climate, for instance, the Golden Conure does not show to the same
advantage as in its own country, where the sunlight has a warmth
and intensity of which the dweller in these islands can form no
adequate conception; but still in spite of all our climatic drawbacks,
it is a bird to be remembered when seen, and when possessed “a
thing of beauty and a joy,” therefore “for ever.’

Rich golden yellow, citron yellow, orange even, according to the
light that plays upon it, and the position of the beholder, is, as
we have said, the general colour of this remarkable and very rare
bird, but the flight feathers of the wings are dark grass green,
forming a curious and by no means unpleasing contract to the rest
of the plumage. ‘The eyes are orange yellow with a shade of brown,
and the legs and feet a pinky flesh colour.

Known to naturalists for a long time, it was accurately described
by Buffon, with whom it does not appear to have been a favourite,
for he says: “It does not learn to speak (which is correct,) it is
melancholy and misanthropical,” which is surely a hbel upon an
attractive and most engaging bird, and must have been the result
of his observations upon an ailing specimen of the race. “ At the
same time,’ he admits, “its beautiful plumage is a recommendation
in its favour, and it is very easily tamed,’ a gracious admission which
we can entirely endorse.

The Golden Parrot is not of very common occurrence in its native
country. Wallace met with it but seldom, and then only when the
rice crops were about to be harvested, and on one occasion only did
he encounter a small party of five, which were probably the parents

GOLDEN PARROT. 47

and their young ones of the year. Burmester never saw it, and Natterer
and Spix but once or twice.

There is no appreciable difference in outward appearance between
the sexes, but the young are said to be more or less spotted with
green, especially on the back and wing coverts.

That these beautiful birds are eminently hardy may be gathered from
the fact, that one of them has survived since 1871 in the Parrot House
of the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park, where it is fed on maize,
hemp, and boiled rice, and appears to be in as good health as it
certainly is in condition, and attracts the notice of visitors, not only
by its handsome appearance, but by its grotesque movements and loud
and shrill outcries.

Notwithstanding this latter decided drawback we are of opinion that
the Golden Parrot is as worthy as any other member of the family,
of occupying a prominent position in the collection of every amateur,
who may be fortunate enough to secure a specimen; and should the
opportunity present itself in our case we should not for a moment
consider the bird’s notes as a reason for rejecting it, but gladly put
up with it voice for the sake of the beautiful creature from whose
throat it proceeds. Suppose it does not learn to speak: what then?
Many people keep peacocks, which are not a whit more clever, and
have a decidedly more disagreeable note.

This bird is classed with the Conures, but erroneously so we think,
for it differs from them not only in size, but in the formation of the
beak and tail, in which it approaches more nearly to the Hawk-heads,
which it further resembles by the elongated nuchal feathers, which it
also has the power of ruffling up to a certain extent, though not in
such a remarkable manner as the latter birds, but more after the
fashion of the Grey-breasted Parrakeet.

These birds are, as we have said, rare, but in addition to the London
Zoological Gardens, those of Berlin and Antwerp possess examples,
and others are to be met with in the avaries of a few fortunate
amateurs, among whom Dr. Russ mentions the Prince Ferdinand of
Saxe Coburg Gotha.

Considering its extremely rare occurrence in Huropean countries, no
price can be fixed for the Golden Parrot, which will fetch whatever
a fortunate importer may be able to obtain from an admiring con-
noisseur, but one of these birds would certainly not be dear at, say,
five-and-twenty pounds sterling, and would probably bring more.

To sum up, giving the non-attractive qualities first: the Golden
Parrot does not learn to speak, and screams shrilly at times. On the
other hand, it is very hardy, as are most Brazilian birds, very hand-

48 GOLDEN PARROT.

some, very gentle, very tame, very droll in its movements, and very
affectionate with those it is well acquainted with, while even with
complete strangers it maintains rather a watchful than a defiant attitude,
and if treated kindly very soon becomes familiar.

It is fond of wood cutting, and feeds on maize, rice, hemp seed,
fruit, and biscuits.

Considering the scarcity of these birds in their native country, the
infrequency of their importation into Hurope, and their consequent high
price; it is not surprising that no attempt at breeding them has been
made, much less that no successful rearing of a brood of Golden
Parrots has been recorded, either in the Transactions of Zoological
Societies, or in the volumes of those journals which devote the whole
or a portion of their space to bird matters; and yet it should not be
difficult to induce a bird that is hardy and docile to perpetuate its
species in captivity, which so many of the Psittacide are anxious to
do, and accomplish successfully when in harmony with their surroundings,
which, unfortunately, is not very often the case.

The bird from which the plate was taken, and which we have had
under observation for some time, shows every inclination to pair, if
only it could find a mate. Should we succeed in getting it one, and
a brood be the result, we shall take care to let the interesting fact
be known.

The fon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’ s account of Conurus luteus.

I HAVE not much to say about this bird, because it is one that I
have not yet had, but am always trying to get; but I have seen enough
of it to wish to make me get one. Here let me make a digression
to complain of the perverse fate which causes all the most unlikely
people in the world to have Parrots sent or given to them, but
which always turns that particular stream of benevolence away from
me, who have loved Parrots from the time I was a boy.

However, to return to our Conure. The first Golden Conure I ever
saw was at the Zoological Gardens. I was struck with the beauty of
the bird, and its charming tameness. You might do anything with it;
swing it by the beak or one leg, or it would lie on its back in your
hand. They are said to be excellent talkers. Later on, I saw two
more at the Gardens. These were young birds, and as far as I recollect
entirely green, instead of, as in the old birds, a bright canary yellow.
Even in the old birds the flight feathers are green.

Of course as they are not brought over very often, they command
a good price, and one would have to pay some £5 for a bird. They
are natives of Brazil.

ED OR PLACK- CAPPED pory.

7

RI-((OLOUR

-
)

49

SRI-GOLOURED
OR §BLACK-GaPPED ‘Bory.

Psitiacus Lori, vel Lory.
Synonyms: Psittacus atricapillus, Guu.; P. exquisitus Loeri dictus, Ss.;
Ara moluccensis varia, Be.; Lorius tricolor, Gr.;
Lorius Philippensis, Brss.; Domicella Lory, Wau.
Gurman: Der Frauenlori, Rss.
Frencu: Perruche Lort des Dames, Bren.

HIS exquisite bird, also called the Black-capped and Philippine

Lory, has long been known to naturalists, and prized by amateurs.
It was described by Hdwards in 1751, and ten years later by Linnaus,
while Bechstein, towards the close of the eighteenth century, gave it
a place in his Natural History of Cage Birds, in which he speaks of
it in the following terms:—“The Black-capped Lory is still more scarce
in Hurope than the preceding (the Purple-capped Lory, P. domicella),
therefore it is dearer, but appears to possess all its good qualities,”
which, our readers may recollect, are not a few; as duly recorded in
our account of the latter bird in our first volume.

The subject of the present notice is a native of the northern parts
of New Guinea and the adjacent islands, where it subsists for the most
part on the nectar of the myriad flowers that make for the botanist
an earthly Paradise of that mysterious region, and for which boiled
rice, well sweetened with Demarara sugar, forms but an indifferent —
substitute, so that one is not surprised to find that its life in captivity
is not a very long one, however merry it may seem to be; and certainly
few birds appear to take such genuine pleasure in being noticed and
made much of by their master or mistress as the Black-capped Lory,
for it rivals the Hawk-headed Parrots in this respect; which is speaking
volumes for its amiability and general good character.

III E

50 TRI-COLOURED LORY.

True, it screams now and then, like all the Lories, indeed like all
the Psittacide, but its cries are not harsh, and by no means unbearable:
on the contrary, to the writer at all events, there is something fasci-
nating, not to say soothing, in the notes of this most charming bird;
which on account of its rariety in the market commands a high price,
£4 or £5 per head, according to its condition when received by the
dealers.

The Tri-coloured Lories that are now and then offered for sale in
this country have, it must not be forgotten, been taken from the nest
when young, and educated carefully by their captors, who are usually
endowed with a large stock of patience; they are consequently, as the
Germans say, “finger-tame,” and make the most charming pets
imaginable. How a specimen captured when full-grown would comport
itself in confinement we cannot say, not having had the advantage,
or disadvantage, of observing one under such conditions; but we venture
to think it would not be difficult to tame, though perhaps it might
not prove to be quite as teachable as another that had been taken in
hand and trained from the nest.

Dr. Russ, on the authority of Seba, relates that a Dutchman bought
one of these Lories from a native in Amboina for 500 guelders, which
taking into consideration the beauty and charming disposition of the
bird, was not, he thought, too high a price to pay for it; it spoke a
number of words distinctly, and that in several languages; would
wish him “good morning’, and sing a song. So attached was this
bird to his master (whether the Dutchman or the native is not stated)
that it died of grief when separated from him.

Hdwards highly praises a bird of this description, which spoke quite
distinctly a number of words, and would jump nimbly from its perch
on to his finger, calling out in a soft, clear voice, “Lory! Lory!” It
would play with his hand, swing too and fro, and hop as lightly as a
sparrow. It did not long survive its arrival in Hngland.

Buffon also, as might be expected from a Frenchman, gives “Le
Lori des Dames” an excellent character, comparing its charming dis-
position with its beautiful coat, and affirming that neither can be excelled
by any other member of the family.

Dr. Meyer has at different times possessed a number of these Lories
which all spoke distinctly.

On the other hand Finsch credits them with small capacity for
learning to speak, which he says they never do with the facility and
fluency of other Parrots. The preponderance of the testimony we have
been able to collect upon the subject, is decidely in favour of the
Tri-colour as a talking Lory, and not only a talking, but a generally

TRI-COLOURED LORY. 51

to be desired member of the family to which he belongs; and we
cordially recommend him to the favourable notice of our readers.

The sexes in this species are almost indistinguishable in outward
appearance, which is not a matter of importance, unless it be desired
to get them to breed; for the females are as intelligent and docile as
their mates. |

It is a pity this charming bird should have been so frequently con-
founded with its congener the Purple-cap, for however delightful the
latter may be, the present species excels it in every respect. It is
curious, too, how the confusion can have arisen, seeing that while there
are undoubtedly points of resemblance, there are far more marks of
differentiation between the two species; and we can only attribute the
mistake to want of personal knowledge in the matter, on the part of
those who made it.

However, when one comes to consider what a veritable terra incognita
New Guinea has for many ages been to the rest of the world, and
that even now its varied treasures of animal and vegetable life are but
imperfectly known, we should not, perhaps, be hypercritical, for after
all, it is easy to confound together distorted and more or less imperfect
skins, that are not improved when exhibited in the form of incorrectly
mounted specimens in the glass cases of a museum, and in days gone
by the art of the taxidermist was far, very far, from having attained
to that degree of perfection we can now witness in the galleries of
the South Kensington Museum of Natural History, and the windows
of more than one London naturalist, several of whom who may be
correctly described, not as bird-stuffers, but as artists in still-life,
whose pictures rival, if they do not excel, the efforts of the most
celebrated delineators of nature on canyas, or in black and white.

We are not aware of any instance in which these rare and beautiful
birds have bred in captivity, or have even produced eggs, as their rela-
tives the Purple-caps occasionally do, even in the case of a solitary
female that has been kept for years; but there ig little doubt that as
the habits of this species are better understood, egg-production at all
events will take place some day, and that stage in the process of
reproduction reached, there will be every chance of complete success
even in our chilly climate; and a brood of young Tri-colours will
delight the heart of some fortunate amateur, by making their appearance
in his aviary or bird-room, when perhaps he least expects it.

52 TRI-COLOURED LORY.

The Flon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’s account of the Tri-coloured
Lory (Lorius tricolor).

Tis bird, which is called by the French and Germans the Lady
Lory, is about the size and shape of the Purple-capped, but differs
from it very much in its plumage. It is much more gorgeously
coloured. The cap on its head is pure black; the sides of the head
and throat and neck are a glowing carmine; the back of the neck and
shoulders are violet-blue; the middle of the back, the rump, and upper
tail coverts are carmine; the wing feathers are dark green on the outer
side and yellow on the inner, with black tips; the tail feathers are —
red for the first half, but run into violet at the end. Underneath,
the bird is of a rich violet blue, passing into a brighter blue round
the thighs, and towards the tail. The beak is orange, like the Purple-
capped Lories, the eyes are dark, and the legs and feet are dark.
Russ says there are different colours, and different sizes. I have only
seen four specimens myself. I did not notice any difference in colour,
but one of the four was much smaller than the others. But it ig not
only the colour of this Lory which makes it so much more lovely than
the Purple-cap, but a peculiar silky texture of the plumage that gives
the bird’s plumage an indescribable lustre. As I have said, I have
only seen four, and perhaps one must not generalize too hastily, but
three out of the four had the most delightfully charming ways. They
loved to be played with, and haying a much pleasanter note than
other Lories, suggested great possibilities of talking and whistling.

I fancy they are not very long-lived. The drawback to them is
that they are not seed-eaters; at least I could not induce the one I
kept to have anything to do with seed. But if any one could intro-
duce Tri-colour Lories, on seed, I can conceive of no more charming
Parrot for a cage bird. They are very fond of washing. If they are
allowed to fly loose they do not wander far. They very seldom come
into the market, and so command a higher price than the Purple-cap,
for whereas the Purple-cap may sometimes be bought as low as thirty-
two shillings, the cheapest Tri-colour ever offered me was £4. But
they are such charming birds, that in spite of my dislike to Parrots
that want soft food, I can hardly resist buying them when offered.

A word in conclusion as to its name. I cannot understand why
we should have christened it the Tri-colour Lory, seeing it has at
least six or seven different colours. The French have much more
reason in calling the Ceram Lory, Lori tri-colore, for that really has
only three colours. By far the best name is Bechstein’s of the Black-
capped Lory, though the French have given that to the Purple-cap.

PLUE- CROWNED OR BLUE-PBREASTED Lory.

53

IBLUE-BREASTED JZORY.

Psittacus Indicus.

Synonyms: Psittacus coccineus, Lru., Suw., Rss.; P. histrio, Muu.;
Hos indica, Gu., Trans. Z. S.; Lorius coecineus, Scuue.;
Domicella coccinea, Fnscu.; Psittaca indica coccinea, Brss.
Frencu: Perruche Lori & diademe bleue. German: Der Blaubriistige
Breitschwanzlori, Rss.

HY this beautiful species should have been selected as the

recipient of the specific name Indicus, or Indica, is one of those
mysteries connected with the science of ornithology it is impossible to
understand, for it is a native of the Moluccas; and moreover the same
specific appellation had already been bestowed on the Ceylonese Hanging
Parrakeet, by Kuhl.

The general colour is carmine, but there are several blue lines round
the eyes, and on the sides of the neck; the breast is blue, and the
saddle a somewhat darker shade of the same colour; the wings are
red, with black and violet markings, especially on the shoulders; the
tail is bright red, marked and spotted with deep purple and blue on
the upper side, on the lower it is altogether red; and the vent is
blue.

There is very little difference in the outward appearance of the sexes;
seen together, the female is perhaps a very little the smaller of the
two, and the colours of her plumage a trifle fainter; but these differences
are not sufficiently marked to enable one to tell whether a given specimen
belongs to the male, or to the female gender. The male is usually the
more demonstrative and noisy, and also learns to repeat words and
short phrases more distinctly than his mate; which, however, is not
greatly deficient in these respects, and here again the intellectual
differences are insufficient to enable one to form a decided opinion.

A pair, or perhaps, to speak more correctly, a couple, of these beautiful

54 BLUEH-BREASTHD LORY.

birds were added to the already rich collection of the London Zoological
Society in May, 1871, and a third individual in June of the following
year, but did not survive their importation very long, which is the more
to be regretted that they showed themselves to be possessed of many
desirable qualities, durmg the brief period in which they graced the
Parrot House by their presence.

Dr. Meyer relates that in their native islands these Lories have always
been held in great esteem as cage pets; a reputation which, he says,
they deserve, “for they are never dull and sulky, like the Cockatoos,
but lively, active, charming, and lovable’; and in another place he
says, “they learn to speak, but never as well as the Cockatoog and
Kelecti (Hdelpapageien).

Herr Scheuba, on the contrary, says that they are very quiet and
silent, and adds that they are very timid and easily frightened.

Although these accounts of the same bird exactly contradict each
other, there is no doubt they are both taken from life; from which
we may conclude that the Blue-breasted Lories, like other creatures,
differ immensely in disposition, and that it is unsafe to generalize from
an individual, or even from two or three.

The single specimen of this species which we have had under obser-
vation was certainly far from evincing timidity, even at the sight ofa
stranger, but was, on the contrary, inquisitive and forward; greeting
a new comer with a series of shrill outcries, as it clung to the side
of its cage which was nearest to the intruder. This bird was extremely
tame, and would take food, a piece of fig, or a grape, from anyone’s
fingers. It was fed on rice boiled and well sweetened, also bread and
milk and ripe fruit. It never seemed to ail anything; yet one morning
was found dead in its cage, apparently without any cause. A post-
mortem examination, however, would probably have showed that a
blood-vessel had given way in the brain; in consequence, no doubt, of
the bird straining to relieve itself, the rice having doubtless proved to
be indigestible.

Needless to remark that in their native woods these beautiful Lories,
which derive their English name from a broad band of blue that extends
across the breast, live principally upon the nectar of the flowers that
are to be found there in such profusion, pretty well all the year round;
and for which even ripe sweet fruit, figs, and especially boiled rice,
form a poor substitute.

Whether it is possible to devise a better dietary, and so keep the
Blue-breasted Lory in health for a more prolonged period than can at
present be accomplished, or whether to allow it to range its native
woods in peace, and live on the food nature has so abundantly

BLUEH-BREHASTED LORY. 55

provided for it there, are questions we must leave the intending purchaser
of one of these birds to decide for himself; for even the fact of a
Lory having been imported does not entirely exculpate the buyer
from complicity in its premature death. If there were no demand for
these birds, the dealers would soon cease to bring them over, for they
are costly, and £4 or £5 too much to be risked on a chance.

Considering the rarity of these Lories in Hurope, it is not surprising
that no attempts have so far been made to breed them in captivity,
nor is it likely, considering the brief tenure of life they appear to
possess when brought among us, that success in this direction will
ever be attained, at least in England. In the sunny south of France,
or Italy, it is possible the birds might live, and even increase and
multiply; while at the Cape, or in Australia, they would probably, in
a suitably constructed aviary, “turn their thoughts to love,’ and a
continuation of the species.

As they are mostly reared from the nest by the natives of the
Moluccas, they are usually very tame when passed over to the dealers’
agents; but unfortunately the greater number die on the voyage to
Europe, and it is only the very few, blessed with exceptionally fine
constitutions, that survive the change of climate and of food; but the
very fact that some so survive, gives the dealers encouragement to
persevere with their importation.

In a few instances the captive Blue-breasted Lory has been induced
to eat seed, hemp, spray millet, or canary seed, and an individual of
the species, in the possession of Herr Director Scheuba, partook freely
of the first, to which it helped itself “regularly at eleven o’clock at
night, although the room was in total darkness.”

This habit, that is of taking food in the night, always indicates one
of two things, either the bird is insufficiently fed, whether in regard
to quantity or quality, or it is suffering from indigestion. If from the
first cause, a more liberal dietary will soon cause it to abandon a
custom that is not only unnatural, but very prejudicial to the bird’s
health; but if it is suffering from indigestion, the case becomes more
serious, and must be treated on its merits; for the causes of the malady
are so diverse, that no fixed rule for treatment can be laid down.

Concerning one of these birds, Dr. Meyer writes: “ For a long time
we had a Blue-breasted Lory, that was brought by a friend from Siao,
It accompanied us to Corontalo, Makassar, and to Singapore, and after-
wards to Manilla, soon after which it died. It was exceedingly tame;
was very affectionate towards my wife, and liked to be near her, but
was always unfriendly with me”; a differentiation of sex on the part
of the bird that we have remarked in more than one instance in several

56 BLUEH-BREASTED LORY.

kinds of Parrots and Cockatoos, the males preferring the society of
ladies, and the females of men.

As might be surmised from their scarceness, the price of the Blue-
breasted Lories is a high one. £4 or £5 is that demanded by the
London dealers; but Dr. Russ gives from sixty-five marks for a single
bird, to one hundred and twenty marks for a pair; as the figure at
which they can, or could be, obtained in Berlin. In another place he
says from ninety to one hundred marks each.

These birds, it is said, differ considerably in size, though as a rule
one of them is about as large as the Purple-cap Lory; but Herr Scheuba
mentions that he had one that was scarcely half as big. It may,
possibly, have been a young one; but as it did not survive very long,
this point could not be determined.

Dr. Russ gives the length of an adult specimen at from twenty-six
to twenty-seven centimetres, which is a little less than the measurements
given by the same author of the Purple-cap, whose length is stated
to be from twenty-nine to thirty centimetres, with a length of wing of
from fifteen to seventeen centimetres; but the Blue-breast has the
longest tail, eleven to twelve centimetres, while that of the Purple-cap
is said to be from nine to eleven. Comparing two of these birds, we
have found very little difference in point of size, or as regards the
length of the tail or wings; and the small-sized birds are most probably
immature.

PeTz’s CONURE.

57

(PETZ'S €ONURE.

Psittacus Petz, AUcTORUM.
Synonyms: Conurus Petzii, Gr., Br., etc.; Conurus Canicularis, GRr.;
Sittace Petzw, Wat.
Frencu: Perruche a frout rouge, Brr., Lv.
German: Petz’? Keilschwansittich, Rss.

Sea small and unpretending looking Parrakeet, is nevertheless a
very nice bird, capable of forming the most devoted attachment
to its owner, and of developing no small ability as an imitator of
domestic, if not exactly of articulate, sounds; although in the latter
respect instances are not wanting in which individuals have attained
to a very respectable degree of proficiency in reproducing the sound of
the human voice.

It is a good deal smaller than the Half-Moon Parrakeet, measuring
about eight and a half inches in length, but bears a general resem-
blance to it in shape and colour; the frontlet however in Petz’s Conure
is rather orange red than golden, and is much narrower than in the
case of Conurus Aureus.

Petz’s Conure is a native of the northern part of South America,
and was met with by Dr. A. von Frantzius “in large flocks in the
Central American State of Costa Rica, not only in close proximity to
the town, but flying over the gardens with deafening cries. They are
frequently tamed there,” he adds, ‘‘and easily learn to speak.”

“This species has been known to writers on ornithology for a long
time, and was described and figured by Hdwards, Buffon, Levaillant,
and Linnzeus, and lastly by Bechstein, with more or less accuracy; but
the first correct account we have of it is that given by Wagler in
1832,’ so writes Dr. Russ, in his work on the Psittacide (Die
Papageien, page 267).

It was described as follows by Bechstein under the name of

Ill. F

58 PHTZ’S CONURE.

Psittacus Canicularis :—“ This species, which is rather common among
us, is ten inches in length, of which the tail measures half, the folded
wings covering one third, the forehead is scarlet, the top of the head
a fine sky blue, paler at the back; the upper part of the body meadow
green, the under lighter. The forehead is orange in the female. This
Parrot is handsome, but does not speak. Although a native of South
America, it is not very delicate or difficult to preserve.”

The Hnglish translator of “Die Naturgeschichte der Stubenvégel,”
names this bird “The Red and Blue-headed Parrakeet,” a name which
describes it fairly well, as the colours vary in different individuals;
being lighter in some and darker in others.

Herr Schlectendal, who kept several of these birds, gives them the
best character for amiability with each other, and good-fellowship with
cognate species; such as the Tovi and Tirika Conures, and the Jendaya,
with which one of his Petz’s struck up at first sight a friendship that
was only broken by death.

The small Conures generally are not large drinkers, and seldom take
water more than two or three times a day; neither are they very large
eaters, and should in no wise have soft food given to them. Canary
seed should be their staple diet, with a little hemp now and then,
but a continuance of the latter seed would make them too fat, and
also be apt to induce disease of the liver.

Fruit, ripe and sweet, such as grapes, figs, or a slice of ripe pear
may be offered during the season once or twice a week; half decayed
wood should also be placed at their disposal, and flints broken up
small, which last aid the digestion and should always be supplied.

Nuts, such as Brazil and filberts, or the edible chestnut, may also
be occasionally given as a treat; but “monkey” nuts are too oily and
sometimes give rise to diarrhcea.

With regard to bathing these Conures differ amazingly, some of them
appear to have a positive horror of cold water; while others again are
never happy except when splashing themselves from head to food; but
they rarely step into the bath and have a regular good “ tub,” although
I have also seen this done. In their native woods there is no occasion
for these birds to wash, for they get quite sufficiently wetted by the
dew that clings to the leaves and branches in the early morning, and
may then be seen in flocks pluming and drying themselves in the
beams of the rising sun.

When a Petz’s Conure does learn to repeat a few words it is in a
very small voice indeed, and the meaning is not always plain, especially
to strangers; but when imagination’s aid has been invoked to interpret
the semi-articulate sounds, it is surprising what a copious vocabulary

PHTZ’S CONURE. 59

the bird is found to possess: but that is the case with most Parrots
as well as Parrakeets, we believe; at least when we have thought more
than once that a bird had spoken a certain word, we have been
assured by its happy possessor that it had said something quite different.
Apart, however, from its linguistic attainments, which vary immensely
in different individuals, Petz’s Conure is a very desirable little bird,
whether kept singly, or in company with one or more of its congeners;
for it is hardy, tractable, and pretty.

We seem to have an idea, that this bird has been successfully bred
in captivity, but we cannot recollect where or when we saw the
account to which we now refer.

The Conures belong to the sub-family Arincw, of which they form a
separate genus, Conurus, and are very numerous, the London Zoological
Society having at different times possessed specimens of no less than
twenty-six different species, leaving the list by no means exhausted.
Dr. Karl Russ enumerates twenty-nine species, which he describes more
or less fully; and others are known to exist, although possibly, as in
the case of the Jendaya, the immature birds, and in some cases the
females, are called to do duty separately as distinct species; time,
however, will clear up these trifling obscurities, and still leave the
Conures the most numerous family of the great race to which they
belong, numbering, in all probability, some thirty distinct varieties.

The London Zoological Society first became possessed of the subject
of our present notice in 1869, when two specimens were purchased ;
since then other examples have been acquired, by gift or received in
exchange, and several are now to be seen in the Parrot House, where
they appear to suffer more or less from ennui, a terrible malady to
which so many unhappy human beings are also subject; for several
of them have fallen into the disastrous habit of plucking the small
feathers from the breast; and one has left itself quite bare in that region.

Want of occupation is in the great majority of cases the exciting
cause of this disfiguring habit, into which some of the Jendayas have
also fallen; and we have advised the placing of pieces of soft wood in
the cages, so that the birds may exercise their beaks in a more congenial
manner than on their own plumage. Once, however, the habit of
feather plucking has been indulged in for any length of time, it is
almost hopeless to effect a cure; but if the bird is noticed at the outset,
and a log of soft wood, and a handful of small stones are supplied for
its amusement, in all probability the self-disfiguring propensity will be
abandoned; and the creature which was in danger of becoming a dis-
agreeable-looking object will remain a thing of beauty, and so far, a
joy for ever.

60 PETZS CONUREH.

The price of these small Conures varies a good deal, but twenty-
five to thirty shillings a pair is that usually demanded for newly-imported
birds by the London dealers. When acclimatised, and in good feather,
they would probably command a higher figure, say forty or forty-five
shillmgs for an undoubted pair, aviary moulted, acclimatised, and in
perfect feather and condition. We have occasionally seen them offered
for five or six shillings each, but not in good condition; when the
amateur, who does not mind a little trouble and waiting, by investing
in a couple of pairs, might, after an interval of a few months, sell
them again for at least double the amount they cost him.

Such speculations, however, always involve a certain amount of risk,
for these poor dilapidated-looking birds not unfrequently die; indeed
more often than not, for the hardships and neglect to which they have
been subjected from the time of their capture in Central America until
their transfer, after a more or less prolonged stay in the close shop
of a dealer to the more considerate care of the connoisseur; have in
all probability undermined their constitution, and sown the seeds of
incurable disease, to which the poor creatures will sooner or later
succumb.

When such a catastrophe has been happily avoided, or averted, these
Conures are perfectly hardy, and will endure in captivity on the simplest
diet for years; but like all the family to which they belong, they cannot
unfortunately be trusted in the company of other Parrakeets, much
larger even than themselves, for they are spiteful and quarrelsome,
especially in the case of nestlings, as we have more than once discovered
to our cost; however, if kept by themselves, for they are eminently
gregarious in their habits, they will do very well; and no doubt breed,
if any amateur should think it worth his while to give them an oppor-
tunity of doing so.

} ENDAYA (ONURE.

61

SENDAYA GONURE.

Psitiacus Jendaya.
_ Synonyms: Conurus auricapillus, Brust.; Conurus Jendaya, Gr. ;
Aratinga chrysocephalus, Spx.; Arara auricapillus, Lss. ;
Psittacus pyrocephalus, Hun.; Psittacara auricapillus, Vars. ;
Sittace Jendaya, Wat.
Franca: Perruche Jendaya. Gurman: Der hyazinthrothe
Keilschwanzsittich oder Jendayasittich.

HEH Jendaya Parrakeet, or Conure, is a native of the north-eastern

parts of South America, where it occurs in such vast numbers as
to cause no inconsiderable amount of damage to the growing crops of
maize; but in these pages we are chiefly concerned with it as an
inmate of the aviary or cage, to which it accommodates itself extremely
well; and being possessed of a good constitution can be so thoroughly
acclimatised as to pass the most severe of our winters out of doors
without inconvenience.

There is a great difference between the old and young birds, and
it is certain that the latter, in various stages of their development,
have been taken for one or more distinct species; and so described by
authors. The only reliable method of clearing up the difficulty would
be to breed some Jendayas in captivity, and watch them during their
growth from the time they left the nest, until they had finally assumed
the adult garb; care being taken to have their portraits correctly painted
at each mutation of plumage. Such a record would be invaluable
because incontrovertible, and is by no means impossible of attainment,
seeing that these Conures, as we have said, are hardy; and though
we have no account of their having nested in confinement, ib is not
unlikely that so desirable a result may be ultimately attained; fora pair
we have had under observation for some time incessantly caress each
other, and have even paired on several occasions; the same thing has also

62 JHNDAYA CONURE.

been noticed by other aviarists, M. Alfred Rousse, for instance, writes:
“Ne doit pas tarder de reproduire, car elle s’accouple souvent.”

The following is a description of the adult plumage:—Head and neck
bright golden yellow; lores, or spaces between the eyes and the man-
dibles red; rump red; back and wings green; flight feathers blue;
breast reddish yellow; thighs red; tail green and blue; beak black.

The female, which is a trifle smaller than her mate, resembles him
in almost every particular; however, she has less red about the lores,
and is generally of a duller shade in every part.

The young, according to Finsch, are at first of a dull green colour
on the upper surface of the body, the rump feathers only shewing red
at their edges. Russ, however, describes an immature Jendaya thus:
“Upper parts dark grass green; sides and top of the head reddish
with a purple shading; forehead and lores dull dark red; rump speckled
with dark reddish purple; throat and breast pale olive green, with an
edging of dull red to each feather; belly, sides, vent and under wing
coyerts dark purplish red; thighs green; beak dark grey; eyes black;
feet blackish grey.

“Tn the adult male the eyes are pearl grey, with a narrow red border
round the pupil, and the legs and feet are black.”

The Jendaya is about the same size as the Half-Moon Conure, that
is to say, about a foot long, of which the tail measures about five
inches.

The attractive appearance of this Conure is beyond dispute, and if
the proverb “handsome is that handsome does’? were only applicable
in its case, few birds would be more commendable as inmates of the
aviary, especially as they soon become very tame and confiding; but
unhappily it has a voice, and is possessed with a mania for letting it
be heard on every possible occasion, which would not be go very
objectionable if its tones were only soft and sweet, but they are painfully
shrill and harsh, and soon become distressing even to not very sensitive
ears. In an out-door aviary however, this failing of the Jendaya is of
comparatively little moment, for there its incessant vociferations only
add an item to the universal noise; its shrill cries being indistinguishable
in the general din.

It must, however, be said that this bird, as happens with most of
its kind, is less noisy when kept in pairs than when confined by itself;
the companionship of a fellow, whether male or female, seems to have
a soothing effect upon the temper of both; and if they do occasionally
yell, as a rule their conversation is carried on in a decidedly minor
key; and the “love-song” of the male is really not at all unpleasant
for human ears to listen to; then he is so attentive to his mate, combing

JENDAYA CONURE. 63

her head incessantly, unless when he is feeding her, or asleep, or she
is performing the same kind and soothing office for him.

Such an affectionate couple would no doubt make exemplary parents,
if they only decided to continue the species, or at least help to do
so, in captivity; but so far, with the exception of a pair belonging to
a lady in Vienna, Frau von Proschek, they have not even produced
eggs in Hurope, and unfortunately those were barren; but no doubt
success can be obtained, and will be by-and-by, though few amateurs
haye the necessary accommodation and appliances for making the
experiment with any chance of a satisfactory result.

The Jendaya is not at all fastidious in the matter of its food, but
will liye and thrive on a diet of canary and hemp seed, with a little
boiled maize thrown in for a change sometimes. Of ripe fruit it will
also partake occasionally, but care must be exercised in giving it dainties
of any kind, which have a tendency to derange the digestive apparatus,
and cause the bird to tear out its feathers by the roots, making itself
an object pitiable to behold; instead of, as it should be, “a thing of
beauty and a joy for ever.”

It may not be amiss to repeat here what we have already more
than once observed, that Parrots of every kind, should have access to
water both for drinking and bathing, whenever the inclination takes
them to bathe or drink. Coarse sand, or rather small gravel, is quite
as essential to their well-being as water, and soft half decayed wood
not only affords a never-ending source of amusement, but is also
necessary for preserving most members of the Parrot family in health;
for they eat it, and the woody fibre seems to exert a beneficial effect
upon their economy.

The Jendaya, like all the other Conures, is extremely fond of whittling,
to use an Americanism, and should never be debarred the option of
indulging in such an innocent and natural recreation; for, in their
wild state, they breed in holes they excavate, or at least arrange, in
the decayed trunks or limbs of trees; and probably if a soft log were
more often given to them in captivity, the association of ideas thus
evoked might lead them to consider that they were not fulfilling their
destiny by refusing, or neglecting, to bear their part in the great work
of continuing the species, and decide them to set about doing so at
once; for we have found that birds which for years had made no
attempt to nest, immediately commenced to do so when suitable
conditions were found available; that is to say when appropriate
nesting material was placed within their reach.

In Dr. Karl Russ’s account of this Conure he records the history
of a pair that were kept by Herr V. Schlechtendal, who narrates

64 JHENDAYA CONURE.

a number of interesting anecdotes of them, but it is too long for
transcription in these pages; however, we may mention, that he found
them docile and affectionate, and when one of the pair died the other
struck up a strong friendship with some other members of the same
sub-family with which it was associated; notably a Petz’s Conure and
a Tovi and Yellow-fronted Parrakeets.

Like most South American birds, the Jendaya Conures command a
high price in the bird market, though they can now be obtained for
a much more moderate sum than used to be asked for them by the
dealers a few years ago; namely, from £3 to £4 10s. a pair, now reduced
to £2, or even £1 10s. It must be remembered, however, that there
is no fixed price for birds, and that dealers very often ask what they
think a customer will give them; while on the other hand, no doubt,
the supply regulates the demand, and wee versa.

On the whole, notwithstanding its occasional noisiness, the Jendaya
Conure is a bird to be recommended to the aviarist, as handsome,
gentle, teachable, and hardy.

65

ROCK “PEPLER,

OR §BLACK-FAILED (PARRAKEET.

Psittacus melanurus.

Synonyms: Polytelis melanura, Gup.; Paleornis melanurus, VaRs.;
Paleornis anthopeplus, Gr.; Platycercus melanurus, SCHLG. ;
Barrabandius melanarus, Br., Fuscu.; Psittacus sagittifer melanura et
P. s. anthopeplus, Bra.

German: Der olivengelbe Sittich, oder Der olivengriinlichgelbe
Platischwetfsittich, Ress. France: Perruche mélanure, Rousse.

i (ewe somewhat soberly-tinted but very charming bird is the Blossom-
feathered Parrakeet of Lear, and the Black-tailed Parrakeet of
Gould. It is generally known to the dealers and the public by the
curious name which he have adopted as its designation in these pages,
namely, the Rock Pepler, or Rock Peplar Parrakeet, a compound
designation of which we are unacquainted with the etymology, and
which we have been unable to trace its origin.

It is rather a difficult bird to describe, so we shal] not attempt to
do so in detail, as a glance of the plate will give to the reader a more
correct idea of its appearance than a mere verbal description, no
matter how elaborate and accurate, could convey. At the same time
we may observe that olive of several shades is the prevailing colour
of its plumage, in which, however, indigo-blue, crimson, and black find,
each, a place.

It is a native of the south and west of Australia, where it is of
sufficiently common occurrence; but is not imported into this country
as frequently as some of its congeners, which are not possessed of
half its merits as a cage bird, for it is perfectly hardy, that is to say,
as far as our experience goes; very docile and teachable, and though,
save in a few exceptional cases, ib does not learn to speak, it is a

66 ROCK PEPLER.

beautiful whistler; and its movements, whether in the aviary or the
more limited expanse of an ordinary cage, are exceedingly droll and
amusing’. .

It is reported by M. Alfred Rousse to have bred (Je connais un
cas de reproduction), but he gives no details; from which we may
conclude that it was not in his own aviary the nesting took place.
However, as these birds soon get very tame, it is not unlikely that
they may have brought up young, and the success not have been
recorded.

Dr. Max Schmidt, Director of the Frankfort-on-the-Maine Zoological
Gardens, had a female which laid four eggs, and brooded them care-
fully, in a hollow place on the floor of the aviary. In their wild state,
however, they breed in hollow trees, like most of their congeners;
so that nesting on the ground on the part of the bird in question
was probably the result of necessity, rather than of choice.

In their wild state they feed principally on the ground, where they
chiefly eat not only the seeds of the indigenous grasses, but also different
kinds of insects, especially white ants, which live in the decaying
trunks of fallen trees. In captivity they are content with a diet of
millet, canary seed, and oats. Hemp is apt to produce indigestion,
and should not be given, except in very small quantities now and
then, for a change, and chiefly in winter, if the birds are kept out of
doors; but if they are lodged in the house, it had better be withheld
altogether.

Dr. Russ says of this bird, which he names Psittacus melanurus in
his “Handbook”, page 205, and Psittacus anthopeplus in the “Fremd-
lindischen Stubenvégel”, page 151, that “its food consists not only
of seeds, but also of blossoms, buds, and honey, which it licks or sucks
from the flowers of the white gum trees, and in captivity it requires
sweet ripe fruit”; which is certainly, as the doctor is fond of saying
in regard to many statements made by other writers, “ein Irrthum.”
Tt is best dieted as we have mentioned above, and when wild feeds
as we have described.

The female bears a general resemblance to her mate, but the oliva-
ceous yellow of his plumage is represented by a greener hue on her
back and wings; and the under side of her black tail is distinctly
shaded with rose. The young are like their mother, but lack the rosy
tint on the tail.

The Rock Pepler is about the same size as the King Parrakeet,
but has even a longer tail than the latter, which it resembles in its
habits more nearly than it does Barraband’s Parrakeet, with which it
is usually classified, under the common generic name of Polytelis.

ROCK PEPLER. 67

The Rock Pepler was first acquired by the Zoological Society of
London in 1864; since which date numerous specimens of the species
have been introduced into the Gardens; where, however, from whatever
cause, they have not any of them made a very prolonged sojourn.
The last consignment of eight or ten fine birds in splendid condition
were located in the passage leading into the Parrot House, and if
their predecessors were treated with like scant regard for their well-
being, it is not wonderful that their exit was a speedy one. With
the western aviary at their disposal, it seems a pity that the authorities
could not have found a more suitable place for these extremely inter-
esting birds; but they do not seem to care very much about Parrots
or Parrakeets at the “Zoo”, which is unfortunate; for no private person
has the same opportunities for determining doubtful points in connection
with Parrot life.

Many people who keep or have kept a Rock Pepler have no notion
What a nice pet it makes; for they immure it in a small cage, in
which it has barely room to turn round, and cannot attend to its
toilet; consequently its plumage becomes frayed and lustreless, not only
from want of the necessary ablutions, but in consequence of the bird
being unable to move without rubbing its wings and tail against the
bars of its prison-house.

In a properly constructed aviary, however, the bird will enjoy itself,
and wear a bloom upon its dress that will be looked for in vain in
the house; of course in such a situation it will, with rare exceptions,
not get as tame as when kept indoors; but the beauty of its plumage,
and the evident enjoyment with which it flies and clambers about its
still narrow abode, will more than compensate the owner for this shght
drawback.

If a suitable Parrot-house in the garden or shrubbery is not at the
disposition of the connoisseur, let him give his Rock Pepler as large
a cage as possible, and encourage it to come out and fly about the
room; for not only does the exercise do good, but the Parrakeet itself
is seen to much better advantage than when sitting sullenly upon a
straight perch behind the bars of a cage.

Tt is a good plan to keep a log of semi-decayed wood in the cage
with all the Australian Parrakeets, which are inveterate whittlers, from
the tiny Budgerigar up to the comparatively huge King Parrakeet.
Hours will be spent by them in cutting it to pieces, and the exercise
is valuable in more ways than one. In the first place the bill is kept
in good order, ground down, so to speak; whereas in the case of birds
that cannot thus occupy their leisure, the upper mandible is apt to
attain to an inordinate length, often interfering with its owner’s power

68 ROCK PEHPLER.

to feed itself. Secondly, birds in a cage very often suffer from ennui,
or from what our grandmothers used to call the “spleen; and in
their enforced listlessness not unfrequently use their beaks upon them-
selves, and pluck out or disfigure their own feathers, until they look
more like veritable scarcecrows than familiar Parrots or Parrakeets.
Thirdly, woody fibre is apparently a necessity in the dietary of all the
Psittacide ; and though but little of it is actually eaten by them, it
Serves some useful purpose in their economy, and without it a bird’s
health will sooner or later suffer.

The Rock Pepler is by no means a noisy bird; still it can and does
Scream at times, particularly if it has nothing to do; but its cries are
not unbearable, for, if a trifle shrill, they are not very loud, and are
chiefly uttered before rain. Which, by the bye, they enjoy immensely
when so situated that they can spread out their wings and tail to catch
the falling drops of a genial summer shower. In their wild state these
birds seldom bathe; they have, in fact, no occasion, or need, to do so :
they roll in the grass, wet in the morning with the heavy dews of
night; or they dash the drops from the boughs upon their backs, as
they flib to and fro among the forest trees. In the house, therefore, if
a bath is desirable, and the bird does not seem disposed to voluntarily
take one, it is a good plan to syringe it gently with a garden squirt,
or, better still, to place the cage out in the garden when it rains.

A correspondent of The Bazaar newspaper recently wrote as follows
respecting the Rock Pepler Parrakeets:—“< Regarding them as a most
charming variety, I have kept, or rather tried to keep, several. I
found them extremely delicate, quite on a par with the Grey Parrot.
I managed to get one through the moult, and I exhibited him at
Canterbury; but he, like the rest, died of atrophy. A friend of mine,
before buying, asked my opinion. Some few months after, I met him.
He said, ‘I found you were right about the Rock Peplers; I bought
a pair, but they soon died.” I saw some in London last week (middle
of January, 1887); none of them, to my mind, looked like ‘livers.’ ”

If possible these birds should be obtained quite young; for if
captured when adult, or even after they have flown a few weeks it is
very difficult to accustom them to captivity; they sulk and pine, like the
King Parrots, and soon die, poor things! literally of a broken heart.
But when reared from the nest they are quite as enduring ag the
generality of Australian Parrakeets, and more so than some; the
Pileated, for instance, and Aprosmictus erythropterus.

Another correspondent of the same paper records his experience of
the Rock Pepler Parrakeet as follows :—

“T found them very delicate—and I know such has been the

ROCK PHPLER. 69

experience of many others—but I so thoroughly admire them, that I
made great attempts, and went to great expense, to keep them.

Like kings they are subject to a disease of the eye. At first the
eye is watery, then the nictoring membrane becomes enlarged, and
partially covers the eye. By frequent bathing with dilute sulphate of
zinc, that membrane assumes its normal condition; but the cornea
becomes callous, the eye dull, and the sight entirely gone. I am quite
positive this disease is not the result of draughts. One fine specimen,
a male, lived some time after losing the sight of one eye. This was
particularly painful to me, for when a bird of a pugnacious turn, say
a Blue Mountain Lory, or a White-eared Conure, or a Bengal Par-
rakeet, came on the perch on his blind side, he got a nasty bite at
times, causing him to fly off madly. He always avoided their coarse
play, if they approached him on the side of his good eye. The case
-was aggravated from the fact of the Rock Pepler being a most peaceful
and unsuspecting bird. I never knew them to quarrel either among
themselves or with any of their companions.

They are small eaters, and seem to like a little insect food; are
very fond of fresh seedy chickweed. They regularly take their matutinal
tub, and enjoy a siesta in the middle of the day, like a king. They
are extremely lively towards sunset. I have noticed this with all the
Australian birds I have kept; my Crimson-wings seem almost mad
just before retiring for the night.

A friend of mine who goes in largely for small foreign birds, after
spending some time with my stock, remarked, ‘The Rock Pepler is the
only large bird I would care to keep.? He admired their natural cry,
which is altogether peculiar, and about as easy to describe verbally as
it would be to imitate the song of the nightingale on a Scotch bag-
pipe; their symmetrical form, the exquisite blending of the colours of
their plumage, which is extremely beautiful, without being gaudy, and
in the words of my Rock Pepler loving friend, ‘Their expression is
so peaceful.’ To me they appear very susceptible to any sudden change
of temperature, so much so, that I was afraid to venture on keeping
them out of doors all the winter.”

“In June, 1884,” writes another correspondent, “I bought two
young Rock Peplers, which both turned out to be hens, and I at
once put them in a small outdoor aviary. The aviary, I must explain,
is all wood and glass, except where it meets the end of a verandah
where there are wire bars, and this open space is closed in bad weather
by a door; which shuts the aviary off from the verandah, but is not
so close to it as to exclude the air. In this the birds have lived and
thriven, never having a rufiled feather up till now.

70 ROCK PHPLER.

Last August I succeeded in getting a cock bird, and at once put
him in, and up to the present he is in perfect health. My aviary
contains Pennant’s Rosella, Port Adelaide Rosella, Barnard and Bauer
Parrakeets, and Cockatiels.

Oats and canary seed are the main food I give, though I add to
them buckwheat, hemp, and inga, by way of variety; Indian corn I
do not find they care for. The Peplers feed chiefly on oats, as, indeed,
I find most of them do, taking them in preference to anything
else. They are very fond of bathing, and, during the late frosts, the
bath was often a solid sheet of ice, but no sooner had I put fresh
water in than they were into it. I need not say that during bath time,
and until they were dry, I kept the door shut.

The Peplers I find rather shy, but very gentle birds, never molesting
any of the other birds; in fact, they are always the last to come for
any dainties I put in.

I give as green food, dandelions, and find all my birds delight in it;
eating flowers, stems, eaves, and roots; groundsel, &c. I also
frequently give them willow branches with the leaves on, selecting
those in which some insect has laid its egg, the grub of which they
pick out and eat. I also give pears and apples cut up small, and
other fruit in season, but there is nothing they like as well as the
dandelion and grubs from the willow leaf.

I have now kept Australian Parrakeets for about four years, and
certainly the Rock Peplers, though not the most brilliant in colour,
are the most beautiful in shape and the least troublesome.”

Another correspondent writes: “Some time since I saw a note in
The Bazaar respecting the Rock Pepler Parrakeet as not being a hardy
bird. I have one now in my aviary that has been in my possession
quite six years—an out-door aviary, summer and winter without any
artificial heat.”

The above experience tallies more nearly with our own, than that
of the correspondents first quoted, but we have thought it right to
give both sides of the question.

puN P ARRAKEET.

71

SUN “PARRAKEET,

oR YELLOW €GONURE.

Psittacus solstitialis, Auctorum.
Synonyms: Conurus solstitialis, Gr., Br., etc.; Conurus aurantius, Muu. ;
Psittacus gouaruba, Spx.
German: Der orangegelbe Keilschwanzsittich oder Sonnensittich, Rss.
Frence: Perruche-soleil, Roussz, Para, etc.

y “RAS eaten one of the most magnificent of the many

beautiful Parrots of America,” writes Dr. Russ of this bird in
his Fremdlindischen Stubenvogel, page 254, and we cordially agree with
the remark; but when he goes on to describe the colour as lemon
yellow, he is not quite correct, for it is more like ochre with dashes
of crimson. The flight feathers are green, and the wing coverts also;
but these birds vary immensely in appearance; and, in point of fact,
no two of them are to be met with that are exactly alike.

They are noisy birds, like all the Conures, painfully noisy at times ;
and their voices are extremely piercing and shrill; but they get very
tame, and learn to speak a little.

Without great attention they will turn and tear out their own feathers
sooner or later, and that notwithstanding their being well supplied
with wood upon which to exercise their sharp beaks. We recently saw
one that had stripped itself of every feather it could reach, excepting
the large quills of the wings and tail; but after awhile it began to
eat those also; and though it did not pluck them out, it gnawed them
down to the quick, and at last died miserably from cold, although
retaining its appetite and embonpoint to the last. Hverything that
could be thought of had been tried to cure it of the distressful habit,
but in vain; its passion for self-mutilation seemed to increase by what

72 SUN PARRAKEBRT.

it fed on, until at last the inevitable result ensued, and the poor
creature fell a victim to its own foolish practice.

Here is a grand opportunity for a little moralising, but we shall not
avail ourselves of it. The habit of self-mutilation often springs, we
believe, from idleness, want of occupation; but once acquired, though
opportunities of recreation and employment are afforded, they will not
be made use of, and the unnatural vice will increase and grow. So-
ciety is incapable, except in rare cases, of effecting a cure, and even
the usually engrossing passion of sexual attachment fails in curative
power, with a confirmed feather-eater.

This bird has been frequently confounded with allied Species; the
Golden-headed Conure (Oonurus auricapillus), for instance, as well as
with Jendaya, and even aureus; although there is actually no great
resemblance between any two of them.

The Sun Parrakeet, or Yellow Conure, was first acquired by the
Zoological Society of London in 1862. Another specimen was obtained
eleven years later, and yet survives in the Parrot House, where several
more specimens have at different times been added to a collection that
is perhaps the richest in the world, with regard not only to species
but to the actual number of Parrots, Parrakeets, and Cockatoos now in
the possession of the Society.

The Yellow Conure was known to Bechstein, who thus describes it:
“The whole length of this bird (Der gelbe Sittich) is eleven inches and
a half; the tail is wedge-shaped, and the folded wings cover one-third
of it. The beak and feet are green (!). The throat, the naked mem-
branes of the beak, and the circle of the eyes, are light grey; the
iris is yellow. The general colour of the body is orange, with olive
spots on the back and wing coverts.

“This Parrot comes from Angola, and easily learns to speak. The
food and treatment must be the same as the preceding.” ‘That is to
say: “nuts, and bread soaked in boiled milk”, a dietary from which
we must withhold our assent.

The food we have found most guitable is canary seed, with maize,
oats, sunflower seeds, and now and then a little hemp. Water must
be given for drinking and bathing, and a supply of gravel is as indis-
pensable as a log of soft wood. The former assists digestion, and the
latter affords much needed help against the tedium of captivity within
the bars of a narrow cage.

We have not tried this Conure out of doors for two reasons, the
first of which is that, like the rest of its congeners, it is extremely
spiteful with other Parrakeets, and especially so with other birds; and
secondly, because it is too expensive to expose to any risk of dying

SUN PARRAKEET. 73

through catching cold. M. Rousse speaks thus of its capacity for
outdoor life in France:—‘‘Hlle (la Perruche soleil) réclame quelques
-précautions pendant les premiers hivers.”

Should we succeed in getting a cheap pair, we shall certainly turn
them out into an enclosure by themselves, and there let them take their
chance; but while the price remains as high as it is at present (1887),
that is, from two to three pounds a piece, we do not care to run any
risk of losig them.

The Sun Parrakeet, or Yellow Conure, is a native of the north-
eastern parts of South America, from the Amazon river to Guiana.
It also occurs in Venezuela, where the natives term it Kessi-Kessi,
from its cry. It is a great favourite with them, according to Richard
Schomburek, and may be seen in the villages to the number of thirty
or forty in a flock; breeding in holes in the surrounding trees.

The young have more red in their plumage, and the wing coverts,
as well as the primaries, are green. They change slowly and do not
entirely assume the adult plumage until they are three years old; which
would, no doubt, in a great measure account for the immediate diversity
of colouring they present.

Though cruel, like all their congeners, to other birds with which
they are involuntarily compelled to associate, they are very affectionate
among themselves, and dress and preen each other’s heads incessantly;
only ceasing now and then to feed at the seed-pan, or to disgorge
into each other’s beaks the half-digested food of which they had
partaken. It is curious, that not only the male and female will thus
caress each other, but two males, or two females, will conduct them-
selves in exactly the same manner; and so lead any one unacquainted
with them to suppose that they were a veritable pair.

There is no perceptible difference, at least outwardly, between the
sexes; but the young, as we have said, differ considerably from their
parents.

We have met with no account of the Sun Parrakeets having bred
in this country, or indeed anywhere, in captivity; and should think
that no case of reproduction has yet taken place.

Herr Schomburek relates that the eggs of this species are about
the size of those of the Turtle Dove, and are round and smooth. “ No
more recent account,’ laments Dr. Russ in this place, “is unhappily
available.”’

II. G

74 SUN PARRAKERT.

Lhe Flon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’s account of the Yellow Conure

(Conurus solstitialis).

Tue Yellow Conure is not so rare in England as it appears from
Dr. Russ to be in Germany, though it is not a common bird. It is
the handsomest Conure with which I am acquainted. I kept four
once all at the same time. But their sole attraction was their beauty.
Like the White-eared Conures, they were restless and noisy, and by
no means tame. Dr. Russ gives, I think, too light a shade when he
says the yellow of the birds ig lemon-yellow. Indian yellow mixed
with crimson is the colour. No two of my four were coloured alike.
I daresay if they were reared by hand they might prove attractive.
Probably the main reason why writers differ so much in describing
the same Parrot is that one has come across a bird reared by hand,
and the other has only come across a specimen caught old. But I
must say that up to the present time the Conures as a race have not
impressed me favourably. The golden Conure (C. luteus) seems an
exception; but it is hardly like a Conure, it is so different in its build.
C. solstitialis are worth about £2 each.

75

VWiaSA “RARROT.

Psittacus vasa, Sw.
Synonyms: Coracopsis vasa, Gr., Sct., etc.;
Coracopsis melanoryncha, Fxscu.; Platycercus vasa, Va@rs.;
Vasa obscura, Scuuau.; Vegorsia vasa, Swws.
German: Der grosse schwarze Papaget oder der grosse Vasapapaget, Rss.
Frenou: Le grand Vasa, Lv.

RUSTY Crow, or a Rook, with its legs cut off, and a white

crab’s claw in lieu of a beak, would fairy represent this by no
means handsome bird; which, nevertheless, is possessed of quite a string -
of good qualities, among which may be reckoned hardihood, longevity,
a not unmusical note, or call, great capacity for domestication, and
gentleness; but on the other hand it.seldom learns to speak, is
decidedly not pretty, and at times will yell in a most persistent and
aggravating manner; a failing, however, that is peculiar to almost every
member of the great family of the Psittacide.

The general colour of the plumage is a dull greyish black, to which
the white beak forms a curious, but not a pleasing contrast. The head
is rather small, and the tail somewhat long and broad in proportion
to the body, which about equals in size that of a large Grey Parrot,
or a Blue-fronted Amazon; although from the length of the tail it
looks a larger bird than either of those we have named; which, how-
ever, both vastly surpass it in intelligence, as they also do in personal
appearance.

The Zoological Society of London were presented in 1830 with a
bird of this species, which survived in the Parrot House for fifty-two
years; when it died apparently from old age. This individual was,
after death, ascertained to be a female; but during the whole of its
long life, at least in captivity, the ovary remained quiescent, no egg
or eggs having been obtained from it; a fact that caused its sex to
be a matter of speculation while alive.

76 VASA PARROT.

The Vasa is found in Madagascar and some adjacent islands, where
several species of the genus also exist, namely, the Lesser Vasa ((o-
racopsis mgra,) about half the size of the Greater Vasa, and the Praslin
Island Vasa, from the Seychelles (Coracopsis Barklyi), which is smaller
still. Neither of the latter species appear to be as enduring as the
Great Vasa, although a Praslin hag survived in the Parrot House for
several years.

Concerning the large species, Herr Jinicke writes in Dr. Russ’s
Foreign Cage Birds, “Tt is very tame, good-natured, droll, and familiar ;
but I have not detected the slightest talent for speech.”

Dr. Russ himself, though classing it among the speaking Parrots |
does not mention an instance of a talking Vasa, but says, “They whistle
loudly and sweetly, pipe tunes extremely well; and learn to imitate’ the
songs of birds; moreover they readily acquire all sorts of other sounds,
such as the barking of dogs, the mewing of cats, cock-crowing, etc.”

M. J. Audebert, however, says “when trained young it whistles
excellently, and learns to speak pretty well; besides, it imitates the voices
of all animals, and interweaves with them its own natural notes.”

Our own experience of these birds agrees rather with that of the
former than with that of the latter authority ; whistling and the imitation
of poultry, a hen after laying an egg, but not of a cock crowing, being
the extent of the accomplishments of any of these birds that have come
under our immediate notice; but as the natural warbling is decidedly
melodious, it is extremely probable that a young male might be taught
a tune, which it would doubtless render with fidelity and expression.

We have at different times seen two or three of these birds that
were speckled with white, much after the fashion of a Houdan fowl;
but whether this was an accidental variation, or whether these mottled
birds belonged to a distinct species, we are not in a position to affirm
or deny.

The Vasa Parrot has been known to ornithologists for a long time,
and had its specific name imposed upon it by the great Swedish
naturalist Linneeus, in honour of Gustavus Vasa, the heroic Scandinavian
monarch; who occupies so conspicuous a niche in the temple of fame
of his own country.

In captivity these Parrots are not particularly friendly inter se,
although they do not interfere with other birds; and in their wild state
they are usually met with, either singly or in small family parties of
from three to six; although a French traveller, Grandidier, reports
having seen them in the dense forests of Madagascar, in flocks of from
ten to fifty.

According to some authorities, that of A. and H. Newton, for

VASA PARROT. 77

example, these birds are indigenous to the Island of Réunion; but this,
we imagine, to be an error, as there is no evidence of any connection
between that Island and the principal habitat of the Vasas, Madagascar;
though it is of course possible that Black Parrots may have been
intentionally imported into the former, from the latter island, and have
established themselves, as other species have done, in their new location.

Newton says in this connection: ‘The Black Parrot lives alone among
the highest trees of Réunion, where his dusky plumage harmonises well
with his quiet, not to say melancholy, disposition; and his presence is
detected by his loud and shrill piping. When one of these birds has
been shot, the captor in taking hold of it, must be careful, for they
bite viciously.”

Poor creatures! under the circumstances who can blame them? Does
not even a worm turn when it is wounded? Audebert, with whom the
Black Parrot seems to have been a favourite, bears testimony as follows
to its general good behaviour:—“‘I know few Parrots which give so
much pleasure to their owners. It does not scream or gnaw, is good-
tempered, allows itself to be taken in the hand and carried about without
fear, and never bites’; observations that tally with our own as to the
familiarity and gentleness of these birds.

Although of sufficiently common occurrence in Madagascar, where it
is frequently tamed by the inhabitants, and kept as a pet, chained to
a stand, the Black Parrot is not very frequently imported into Europe;
for demand, as a rule, creates and regulates, the supply of a given
article, and the Vasas are not in much request among amateurs, although
the few specimens that are occasionally offered fetch a good price—
from thirty to forty shilings apiece in this country; and in Germany,
on the authority of Dr. Russ, from forty to forty-five marks. One of
the speckled birds which we saw at Jamrach’s, was offered to us for
three pounds sterling; however, though said to be moulting, it was
evidently a feather-eater, and we declined it, as we did another in
better condition, for which another dealer, in whose shop we saw it,
asked the modest sum of £7; which, however, we have occasion to
believe, he did not get; as we heard that he afterwards disposed of
the bird for fifty shillings.

Dr. Russ, we cannot say on what authority, relates that “The abori-
gines (presumably of Madagascar) often tame these birds in considerable
numbers, and bring them to Mauritius, whence they are imported into
Kurope.”

Although undoubtedly belonging to different species, some authors
consider the Greater and Lesser Vasas to be specifically identical; and
one Herr Linden, a contemporary writer, even ventures to affirm that

78 VASA PARROT.

the Greater is the male, and the Lesser the female; which is a pure
flight of fancy on his part, as the autopsy on the ancient inmate of
the Parrot House at the “Zoo’’ indisputably proves; but, as Dr. Russ
very properly remarks, “Although the resemblance between the two
species is slight, yet one may confidently affirm them to be distinct.”

Nothing is accurately known of the habits of the Black Parrot in
its wild state. It is said that the white beak becomes a pale brown
during the nesting season; but this we have not observed to be the
case in captivity; which, however is no reason that the change of
colour spoken of by Dr. Finsch may not take place as described by
him, especially as his observations have been confirmed by those of
other writers.

The most suitable food for these birds is maize, to which hemp and
oats may be added; though they appear to be capable of subsisting
upon the most unlikely and unnatural diet, for M. J. Audebert (Russ
passim) says, “Mine got roast or boiled meat, broth, fish, vegetables,
raw and cooked rice, bananas, sugar-cane, etc., without any evil con-
sequences. Raw flesh they will not touch.’ In another place he adds,
“They kept at a distance, anxiously, from any object with which they
were not acquainted, such as glasses, bottles, etc., and never gnawed
tables or chairs. The price in Madagascar ranges from fivepence to
one shilling a head.”

Avoiding unknown objects, which M. Audebert appears to think a
sion of intelligence, tends, we imagine, to prove on the contrary that
the Vasais not entitled to rank with the more sagacious members of
its family; and that this is really the case, the general tenour of our
observations with respect to it leads us to believe. The Black Parrot
is by nature suspicious, but speedily becomes reconciled to captivity.
Tt is, however, incapable of generalization, and if accustomed to a
particular object, starts in affright from another that differs from it
in the very slightest respect. It spends the greater part of its time
asleep, that is to say when not eating; and it is only when made the
subject of continual attention by its owner that it rouses itself from
the state of melancholy that appears to be natural to it, and puts on
a kind of spurious -gaiety, which vanishes directly the attention is
withdrawn; when the bird becomes as listless and apathetic as before.

That this behaviour is not the result of grief for the loss of its
freedom is quite certain; for one of the Vasas to which we allude was
permitted to enjoy almost complete liberty, and differed in no wise
from the others as regards the melancholy apathy that seems to be
the heritage of the race; which even in the completely wild state, has
not been observed to play like most other members of the Parrot family.

VASA PARROT. 79

That many birds are by nature utterly unfitted for a life in captivity,
must be apparent to any one who has even bestowed a passing thought
upon the subject; the Lark, for instance, accustomed to soar aloft and
revel in the boundless realms of space; or the Hagle, whose home is
likewise in mid-air, and his resting place on some inaccessible cliff;
but with others of the feathered tribes it is different. Some of them
actually seek the society of man and assume, voluntarily, restraints
that are dearer to them than the most perfect liberty; of these are
the Pigeon and the Robin Redbreast. But intermediate between the
two extremes are others that without seeking, yet submit, if not with
pleasure, at least with perfect resignation, to a life of captivity, and
refuse to return to a state of nature, when the opportunity for so doing
is presented to them; of these, among others, are many of the Parrots.

One of these birds that came into our possession several years since,
was as wild and vicious as a Hawk, snapping and biting fiercely at
every one who came near it, trying to cut the bars of its cage, and
every now and then giving utterance to the most appalling yells. The
lady from whose custody it had passed into our own, was well versed in
the management of Parrots, and had succeeded in perfectly taming several
that at first seemed as intractable as the bird of which we are speaking;
but upon this savage she could make no impression, and so she got
rid of it, and it came into our keeping. When, finding it apparently
irreclaimable, we turned it out into an aviary in which was located
another of the same species, scarcely less vicious than this very objec-
tionable member of the Parrot race.

The rencontre between the two was alarming and yet amusing. A
battle royal took place, and feathers were scattered all about; blood
was even drawn, and the combatants fought until they were both of
them utterly exhausted. Neither could claim the victory, and each
stood in very proper dread of the other ever after; so that an armistice
was in all probability agreed to between them; and afterwards they
became tolerable friends, though every now and then a sly bite from
one or the other, a shriek from, and hasty retreat of, the bitten one
to the farthest corner of the aviary; plainly showed that not much love
was lost between them.

This went on for a couple of years, when one of the pair one
morning or evening caught its foot in the wire of the aviary, and
tugging to get free, unfortunately broke its leg; and retreating to a
corner of the outside, or open part of the enclosure, was unable or
unwilling to move, and stayed there unnoticed until, on going to feed
them in the morning, we found the poor Parrot dead and cold.

Though by no means an engaging creature, we felt very grieved for

80 VASA PARROT.

its untimely and cruel ending, for the birds were undoubtedly a pair;
and we had hoped that during the coming summer (1887) we might
have had eggs, and perhaps young ones, from them.

The survivor did not get tamer, and did not seem to mourn very
much for the loss of his companion; but having another use for his
habitation, we caught the savage, caged him and brought him indoors,
when, strange to relate, without any special attention on our part, he
soon got to be quite tame; taking food from the hand, and even
suffermg his head to be scratched. Hxperience had evidently made
him wiser; he could appreciate the contrast between his spacious cage
indoors and his life of semi-freedom in an out-door aviary; between
the society of a mate who, even when accepting his caresses, was always
on the watch for an opportunity of giving him a bite; and the gentleness
of the hand that fed him and kept his house in order; and, as we
have said, he soon became quite tame, and is now a very amiable and
companionable bird, in perfect plumage and condition.

We have also remarked at various times that other Parrots, when
turned out into a large aviary, were evidently quite unhappy there, and
evinced unmistakable signs of delight when restored to the narrower
precincts of the accustomed cage.

A tame Parrot is a most delightful bird, and few birds become
tamer than a Parrot.

Mr. Groom, of Camden Town, writes concerning a Vasa Parrot, in
his possession for some time, that was exhibited at the twenty-fourth
Annual Exhibition of Canaries and Cage-birds at the Crystal Palace,
February, 1887:—“ When first caged my Black Parrot was dreadfully
wild and shy, but has gradually become more quiet, and will now hold
its head to be fondled, and appears in no way spiteful, although still
timid but gentle. My opinion of these birds is that they would become
very affectionate, if pains were taken with them. As to talking, I can
hardly form an opinion, yet think they might be induced to speak, if
trained and petted early.”

At the Palace Show this bird was evidently unwell, but made no
attempt to retaliate upon the numerous persons who poked him with
sticks and umbrellas; merely resenting their rudeness by a little grunt,
and immediately popping his head under his wing until disturbed
again.

Mr. J. H. Blackham, of Chatham, who has kept almost every kind
of Parrot and Parrakeet that is imported into this country, writes as
follows concerning the species at present under consideration:—“I
have a fine specimen of the larger Vasa. He is nothing to look upon;
the first impression being generally, “how like a squeaker.’

VASA PARROT. 81

“He is not noisy, and says several words plainly, Dr. Russ notwith-
standing. When I go to feed him he utters a very faint plaintive
ery, much like a child in cwnabuld, and a very young one indeed. He
is extremely playful, and very fond of a shampooing. I am much
amused at his attempts to wash in his drinking tin; he succeeds in
making himself very wet, as well as his surroundings. He is fond of
having his head scratched.” |

The above graphic account of a fine specimen of the species to which
it belongs, shows that even the Black Parrots vary in character, and
that some of them are more teachable and of a gayer and more lively
disposition than others; but on the whole it tallies very well with
what we have written about the bird, whether from our own or the
observations of others.

To sum up, we may briefly remark that in our opinion the larger
Vasa is a capital bird to make a pet of; for it is docile, hardy, and
not usually noisy; qualities that should render it more acceptable to
amateurs than it appears to be, and which should go far to compensate
in their eyes for any lack of the brilliant colouring so characteristic
of the Parrot family; for, as the proverb to which we have more than
once in these pages referred, truly says, “Handsome is that handsome
does.”

We may here mention that in addition to the Lesser Vasa and the
Praslin Parrot, there are several other less known species of Black
Parrots, which each and all bear more or less affinity to the subject
of the present notice; which they resemble so closely, except in point
of size, that it is unnecessary to figure them in this work; though
a few words upon their suitability for domestic life may not be
unacceptable to our readers.

The Lesser Vasa Parrot, also called the Brown and the Agh-brown
Parrot, is about fourteen inches in length, and is a native of
Madagascar, where it consorts with the larger species, as the Jackdaws
are in the habit of doing with the Rooks in our own fields.

Tt is Psittacus niger of Edwards, and Madagascariensis niger of
Brisson, Le Petit Vasa of Le Vaillant, and Der kleine schwarze Papagei
of the Germans. It is equally enduring with its larger relative, and,
like it, whistles and pipes, but speaks little, though it imitates fairly
- well the cries of different animals and various domestic sounds. The
treatment is the same that has been recommended for the Large Vasa.

Four specimens of the Lesser Vasa (Coracopsis mgra, Z. 8.) have
at various times been placed in the Parrot House at the “Zoo,” of
which the first arrived in 1857, and the last in 1872.

Barkly’s Parrot (Psittacus Barklyt), named in honour of Sir Henry

82 VASA PARROT.

Barkly, at one time Governor of Victoria, and subsequently of the
Mauritius, is still smaller than the Lesser Vasa, measuring about eleven
inches in extreme length. It is an insignificant-looking, gentle little
creature; of an ashy black colour, with a greyish white beak. It is
only found on Praslin Island, one of the Seychelles, and is not very
numerous there; so that at no very distant date it will in all probability
become extinct. Four examples have at different times been placed in
the Parrot House of the Zoological Society of London, of which the
first was received in 1867, and the last in 1874; and this bird is, or
was quite recently, living in the Gardens.

In addition to the two Vasas, and the Praslin Parrot, there is a
fourth black member of the Parrot family, viz.: Psittacus comorensis,
Fnsch., or Coracopsis comorensis, Gr., found in the Comorine group of
islands by Dr. Kirk. It is, however, even more scarce than the Praslin,
and no example of the species has at any time been an inhabitant of
the Zoological Gardens of London.

It is stated, on the authority of Dr. Bolau, to have reached the
Hamburgh Zoological Gardens to the number of three, which were
received at the same time, but none since. It is somewhat smaller
than the Great Vasa, to which it bears a general resemblance, except
its black feathers reflect a tinge of metallic green, principally on the
wings, back, and tail. The beak is blackish brown, the eyes very
dark, and the feet dark brown; the cry is weak and not disagreeable.

A skin of the bird was seen by Dr. Finsch in the British Museum
a few years since, but it is not there now.

The rarity of the latter two species renders their price uncertain.
A dealer into whose possession one of them might come, would be
apt to ask for it whatever sum he thought he would be likely to get;
but the Lesser Vasas, of which we saw a goodly number in a London
shop a couple of years since, were sold at from eighteen shillings to
twenty-five shillings apiece; although we believe the first price that
was demanded was sixty shillings a head, at which figure we do not
think a single bird was sold.

They would all appear to be hardy, and, if not attractive-looking,
very desirable birds to make pets of, for they are gentle, the Praslin
especially; and have not the loud, disagreeable scream of so many of
their congeners. When they do shriek it is in quite a minor key)
compared with the Cockatoos and the Amazons.

The Lesser Vasa has laid eggs in confinement, but has not, as far
as we are aware, reproduced itself in the aviary.

The Great Vasa is about twenty-one or twenty-two inches in length,

} ARDINE'’S PARROT

83

SARDINE’S “PARROT.

Psitiacus Gulielmi.

Synonyms: Peeocephalus Gulielmi, JRv. & Suz.; Pionias Gulielint, Scuta.;
Powcephalus Gulielnn, Snxc.; Psittacus Aubrianus, Gr.
German: Guilelmi’s Langfligelpapagei, Res.

France: Perroquet @ téte d’ or.

Se WILLIAM JARDINE, the editor of the well-known Naturalist’ s
Inbrary, has had the honour, bestowed upon him by his collabo-
rateur, Prideaux John Selby, of giving both hig names to this handsome
bird; and when we have said that, there remains but little more to
be added to the account we have to give of it; for the Peeocephali
are not, as a rule, remarkable for their intelligence; and Gulielmus,
as far at least as our experience of the bird goes, comes in pretty far
down the list; but as, on the other hand, our colleague and a corres-
pondent, who have had a wider experience with it than we can boast
of, speak most favourably of it as a domestic pet; and as fairplay is
a jewel of the first water, we give both sides of the question, and
like the showman in the story, say to our readers “ pay your money
and take your choice’’—that is buy a Jardine, and determine for
yourselves which side of the question you will choose to espouse.

To begin with the dark side of its character. Dr. Russ does not
include Giulielmus amongh is “Talking Parrots” (Die sprechenden Papa-
geien), and as he places in that category others that have very smal]
faculty indeed for imitating the human voice, or repeating’ any sound
other than their own native woodland notes ; that would be saying, or
rather not saying, a good deal, providing his experience of the bird
were not limited to one or two specimens of unfortunately morose
disposition, or that were perhaps afflicted with some disease, to which
captive Parrots are so subject; for our colleague, as we have said,
credits Jardine’s Parrot with learning to speak quickly and well, if

84 JARDINE’S PARROT.

“in a small, rather throaty voice’; and he has at different times pos-
sessed several examples of the species, of which every one differed from
the other in character.

Herr Schlechtendal possessed two of these birds, which he believed
to be a pair, for a year and a half; but says they were dull creatures
(Zangweilige Geschopfe), and had none of the sprightliness of the Moh-
renkopfe, or Senegal Parrots.

Herr Wiener, too, has nothing much to say in commendation of them;
but one of his pair dying, the other passed into the custody of Dr.
Russ, who relates that he had a good opportunity of observing it,
and found that in its habits it resembled the Black-headed Parrot;
and when frightened or teased, would give utterance to a shrill cry;
but not one word do these gentlemen say of the talking powers of
their birds.

Our own experience is that the Jardine’s Parrot does talk, and that
passably, though a stranger will scarcely understand what it says, unless
some one that is well acquainted with the creature acts as interpreter;
but it seems to have a lamentable tendency to self-mutilation. Perhaps
our William was not kept sufficiently amused, and that ennui caused
it to turn round and pluck itself, until its back was completely bare,
and very often bleeding. Nothing seemed of the least avail to stop
the horrid practice; and when at last we had to make a post-mortem
examination of the remains, the only possible verdict was one of felo
de se; nor was the bird particularly lamented, when the kitchin range
one day after dinner received all that was left of it for decent cre-
mation.

A native of the Gold Coast, this Parrot is not particularly uncommon,
nor is it very dear; the dealers of whom we have made inquiry
demanding from twenty-five to thirty shillings for a newly-imported
specimen; though of course a trained bird that could talk a little
might bring a great deal more, and fetch perhaps as much as five
pounds; which reminds us that possibly we appreciated our bird less
than it deserved, for the reason that we paid nothing for it, that it
was half denuded of its feathers when it passed into our possession,
and that all our efforts to reclaim it were in vain. Very likely had
it been in good condition, or had our endeavours to break it of its
naughty habit been attended with success, we should have prized it
more than, we admit, we ever did.

The London Zoological Society received their first specimen of
Jardine’s Parrot in 1862; since which date others have been intro-
duced into the Parrot House, of which one example was a very nice
tame bird, that eventually took to plucking itself, and probably died

JARDINE’S PARROT. 85

indirectly from that cause; but we have been unable to ascertain its
end, of which no record has apparently been kept; at all events it has
escaped the intelligent custodian’s memory; which is not to be wondered
at, seeing the multitude of different birds that pass through his hands
in the course of the year.

As our colleague has given a full description of this bird in his
note, we shall not occupy space by going over the same ground, but
refer our readers to the plate and to Mr. Dutton’s accurate word-
portrait of Jardine’s Parrot.

Should another specimen of the species pass into our possession at
any future time, we shall give an account in the Appendix to this
work, of any further peculiarities respecting it, that we may observe.
But that addition to our present labours is a good way off yet we
hope and believe, and in the meantime we cannot add much more,
except that no instance of even egg-production has been recorded of
this species up to the present time.

The female cannot be distinguished by her outward appearance from
her mate; but as some of these birds have brown eyes, and others
have the irides of a bright orange-red colour, it is possible that the
latter may be the females; and perhaps the young of both sexes may
take after their mothers in this respect; in which case the eyes of the
young males would become dark as they reached maturity, and those
of the females retain the lighter shade; for it is an established fact
that in almost every case the young of both sexes resemble at first
the adult female, and do not assume the characteristic distinctions of
the sex to which they belong, until they have reached maturity, and
are about becoming parents in their turn. There is also very little
doubt that in the case of all birds in which the sex is not differentiated
by the plumage, it is so by the permanent colour of the eye, that is
to say, by the colour of the iris when the bird has reached maturity;
though in some species, such as the Rose-breasted Cockatoo, for
example, the distinction is much more marked than in others.

It is somewhat strange that the Jardine Parrot is not more fre-
quently imported, for its distribution is pretty extended; the bird
having been reported from all parts of the west coast of Africa, and
also from Guinea, and the Gaboon, as well as from the Congo and
Angola, though nothing is known of its habits in the wild state.

In length it measures about ten and a half inches, of which the
tail occupies nearly three; it has strong wings, long in proportion to
‘its size, and flies well.

The French, as a rule, are not happy im their avine nomenclature ;
and the title Perroquet a téte dor, which they have bestowed upon

86 JARDINE'S PARROT.

Peocephalus Gulelmi, is singularly infelicitious, seeing that its forehead
and crown are rather of an orange red than a golden colour. Its
English and German names are greatly to be preferred to its Gallic
one, though the first is perhaps the best, because the most distinctive,
in fact we are egotistic enough to believe that our own language is
the most expressive and sensible of any tongue with which we are
acquainted, and we happen to be tolerably conversant with several.

To revert to the Jardine. It is best fed on seed, hemp chiefly, but
canary seed, oats, and maize must be added, and some of the latter
may be advantageously boiled; though too much must not be cooked
at one time, as it soon becomes sour; in which state it will disagree
with a bird, and excite a kind of choleraic diarrhcea that is usually
very unamenable to treatment.

Mr. P. F. Coggin writes respecting the subject of the present notice :—
“T did not have the Jardine Parrot in my possession a very great time,
consequently I cannot give you a large experience with it. When it
came to me it was suffering from feather plucking, which I was
unable to cure. It appeared to be a very sociable bird, and soon
became accustomed to the person who fed it.

“When left in a room by itself, it had a very peculiar habit of
lying upon its back, either upon the perch, or at the bottom of the
cage; and would remain in that position for half an hour at a time
unless disturbed.

“In July I turned it out mto a garden aviary, but the first cold
night killed it. I never heard it attempt to speak, but it was
constantly making a disagreeable noise. I think it was a female;
it was a small specimen compared with Mr. Dutton’s bird, which I
saw afterwards.”

To the above account we may add that we saw the bird when it
was in an advanced stage of feather-plucking; it was in good condition
as regards plumpness, but was decidedly small. We are also of opinion
that we performed its autopsy, and found that it had died from
inflammation of the lungs; to which, of course, the loss of its feathers
would render it peculiarly lable. From observations we have been
able to make upon several of these Parrots, we are confirmed in our
previously expressed opinion; that they make very nice pets, and that
the great drawback to keeping them in captivity is their unhappy
propensity for self-mutilation.

JARDINE’S PARROT. 87

The Flon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’s account of Fardines Parrot
(Peocephalus Gulielm1).

Tis is a small Parrot, not much larger than the Senegal Parrot,
which also belongs to the tribe of Paocephal. Its beak igs dark horn
colour, and large for its size, though not so large as that of P. fuscz-
collis. Its head is green, with a greyish tinge in the green; the
feathers of the back are black, edged with green. The upper wing
coverts, flight, and tail feathers are black; the secondaries are black,
edged with green. ‘The whole of the under part is bright yellow-green,
and the bird has red feathers on the forehead, shoulder butts, and
knees. I incline to think that either there are two species, or that
the male bird has much more red than the female; for the bird now
in my possession has very little red and two others I have had, had
a great deal. And as mine has moulted twice with me, the slightness
of the red cannot be owing to immaturity.

I was attracted to them first by the tameness of one I saw in the
Zoological Gardens, which would come and talk to one, if one noticed
it. But I never had the opportunity of keeping one till Mr. Carpenter,
of Liverpool, whom I had asked to look out for Meyer’s and Riippell’s
Parrots for me, sent me the one I have now. I have had two others,
both of which have died, owing to my absences from home. Of what
the first died I do not know; but the second I believe owed its death
to want of water, as it was given no more water than was in sop
squeezed dry. They are very thirsty birds, and like a great deal of
water. ‘They are very fond of washing, too.

I have found them soon tamed, and remarkably quick in learning
to talk, which they do in a small, rather throaty voice. They are as
fond of play as a “Blue-bonnet,” and will take a piece of wood and
play with it like a kitten. Mine lies on its back, and plays in the
most comical way with the wood which it holds in its feet.

Like all other short-tailed Parrots that I have tried, it has a good
homing instinct; and if let out, never flies far from home. Mine
recognises my voice or whistle at any distance; and if I call to it,
when it is loose, it will at once fly towards me, and keep flying round
me. It is a jealous little bird, and is not to be trusted, if strangers
are by; but is very affectionate when I am alone with it, Its dispo-
sition however is peculiar to itself, for the two others I had did not
mind who was by.

They seem to be somewhat difficult to acclimatise, but very hardy
when once fairly established. My bird can stand any cold weather

88 JARDINE’S PARROT.

when flying about loose. I give it boiled Indian corn, hemp and
canary seed mixed, and sop. But I dare say it would be just as
happy with plain water as with the sop, for it eats very little of the
bread. They are, I think, to be strongly recommended as pets, and
would be an attractive bird to acclimatise. I am sorry to say that
mine is quite as unamiable to other Parrots, even of its own species,
as it is to human beings; but perhaps if it met another in a tree,
and not in a room, it might make friends.

Since writing the above I have had another, but it did not survive
long.

They seem to be difficult to acclimatise, and I have an idea that is
a characteristic of the Peocephali. I would advise people to buy them
in summer, though the one that did best arrived in January in a plain
deal box. Hven if bought in summer it would be wise to keep them
in the kitchen at first, and harden them off by degrees. They are
worth twenty-five shillings each when imported.

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New UINEA --CLECTUS.

89

RED-SIDED
or ‘New Guinea SEcLeEctus.

Psittacus Linnet, Rss.

Synonyms: 4 Psittacus polychlorus, Scru.; Psittacus sinensis, Lrum.;
Eclectus polychlorus, Gr.; Mascarinus polychlorus, FNscu.;
Eclectus pectoralis, Z.S.; 2 Hclectus Linnet, Wau.; Helectus puniceus, Be.

Guruan: Der Neuguinea Hdelpapaget.
Frence: 6 Lori-perruche a flancs rouges, 9 Perroquet de Ininné.

HE mystery which for a long time surrounded these curious birds

has at length been satisfactorily cleared up, as far, that is to
say, as the wonderful difference of the colouring in the sexes is con-
cerned, for there is still some doubt whether the subject of the present
notice is not identical with the Gilola and the Ceram Hclecti, from
which the male scarcely differs in any respect, and the females in so
trifling a degree, that it seems almost absurd to make three distinct
species, of what in all probability are nothing but local varieties of
one.

The male Helectus appears to have been first described by Scopoli in
the early part of the eighteenth century, and afterwards more fully
by Edwards; while the female, though mentioned by Miiller in 1776,
was not described till 1832, when Wagler included it in his Monograph
of the Psittacide, under the name of Helectus grandis.

“This elegant species, which exceeds the Amazon Parrots in size,
is a native of the Moluccas and New Guinea. In appearance, and the
colour of its plumage, it approaches the larger Lories, a resemblance
also indicated by the name given to it (Linnean Lory) by Latham
and others. The bill is black, with the culmen of the upper mandible
rounded; the nostrils placed at the base of the bill, and concealed from
view; the eyes yellow, and the ophthalmic region entirely clothed with

IIL. H

90 NEW GUINEA ECLECTUS.

feathers. The head and upper neck are of a rich crimson red; the
lower neck, breast, belly, and upper tail coverts, rich scarlet, with a
purplish tinge. The flexure of the wings, and the outer webs of the
quills, are azure blue; the vent and apical fascia of the tail yellow.”
Thus Selby and Jardine, who omit the distinctive mark on the breast,
namely, a broad band of dark purplish blue.

The male, contrary to the usual custom among birds, is much more
soberly clad than his extremely brilliant partner, the prevailing colour
of his plumage been vivid green of several shades; the primaries,
however, are dark blue, the flexure of the wings light blue, and the
sides and inner wing coverts scarlet; the upper mandible is whitish
flesh-colour; the lower dusky horn.

The length of the male bird is about sixteen inches, that of the
female not much less: both are stoutly built, and have large heads.
The texture of the plumage is generally fine, and the feathers thickly
disposed over the body, so that the bird is comparatively independent
of the weather; and if turned out during the summer, may be safely
wintered out of doors.

These birds, both males and females, have been imported in increasing
numbers since the time of Hdwards, circa 1750; but the former were
always the more numerous, and naturalists never suspected that their
so-called two species were in reality the male and female of one until
Dr. Meyer, the travelled director of the Natural History Museum in
Dresden, first published his discovery that the well-known Green
Helectus and the Purple Hclectus, to which Wagler had given the
name of Linneus, stood to each other in the relationship of husband
and wife. This announcement however was received with laughter and
contemptuous ridicule, such as greeted the present writer when he
made it known that our old friends the Canaries could be reared not
only without egg-food, but that they would be stronger and healthier
when fed wholly upon seed, than when treated in the unnatural
manner resorted to by breeders from time immemorial.

However, the fact, in both cases, is indisputable; for Dr. Frenzel,
by experiments in breeding, conducted under his own superintendence
at Frieberg, has conclusively proved the correctness of his countryman’s
observations, as numerous Canary fanciers have ours by repeated trials;
and the scoffs, sneers, even insults and misrepresentations of unbelievers,
count for nothing, magna est veritas et preevalebit.

The Hclecti, male and female, though handsome, and on the whole
tolerably quiet birds, are not general favourites; their listless ways,
and occasional screaming fits, together with their inaptitude for acquiring
articulate speech, may, perhaps, account for this, True, one of them,

NEW GUINEA ECLECTUS. 91

now and then, will learn to speak a little; but Dr. Russ estimates
their capacity in this respect very correctly when he says: “As talkers,
they can only take third, or, at the best, secondary rank.’

When acclimatised they are hardy, but when first imported decidedly
delicate, and require a good deal of careful management to keep them
from incontinently “going over to the majority.” Nor is this to be
wondered at, considering the change of climate and the difference of
food. Natives of the tropics suddenly transferred to our bleak shores
must feel the cold intensely. Feeders on bananas and other luscious
fruit, green rice, and similar grain, do not take kindly to maize and
hemp seed, which, however, with oats and canary seed, should constitute
their food if they are to be kept alive in their involuntarily adopted
country.

The transition from the diet they have been accustomed to, to that
which is to be theirs in future must be gradual, and the effect of the
change carefully noted for the first few weeks or months; but if
purchased during the summer, and the feeding judiciously attended
to, they will soon become acclimatised, and give no further trouble.

Though armed with powerful mandibles, they are not very destructive,
and do not appear to have the same propensity for gnawing wood that
is so great a drawback to the complete domestication of the larger
Parrots and Cockatoos, and the Australian Parrakeets generally, but
especially the Platycercit. We must, however, confess that the Heclecti
do not, for the various reasons enumerated, stand very high in our
esteem.

In Poultry for 1884, a writer described as follows a male Heclectus,
which had taken a first prize at the preceding Crystal Palace Bird
Show:—“As those who had the pleasure of making the acquaintance
of “Sir Garnet’ will remember, the general colour of his plumage is
vivid grass green, except upon the sides, which are ruby red; the
beak is pmky red, like coral, and has a yellow tip. The size of this
bird is about that of the larger African Grey Parrot; but the Hclectus
has a bigger head, and is more thickly covered with feathers than our
old friend “Polly Grey.”

“Tt usually happens among birds that the female is more soberly
clad than the male; and even in cases where the plumage of the sexes
is identical in general colouring, it will be found that the tinting of
the hen bird is duller than in the case of her mate; but in the present
instance this order of things is reversed, for the female Hclectus is
very much more brilliant in appearance than her partner; and is
altogether such a different looking bird, that authors, until recently,
supposed her to belong to a different species, and for a time refused

92 NHW GUINHA HCLECTUS.

to believe that she could be the female of H. polychlorus. Nevertheless,
such is undoubtedly the case, as was clearly proved by the author of
that splendid work, The Birds of Australia, John Gould, F.R.S., who
during one of his expeditions, heard from ‘the natives’ that the two
supposed ‘species’? stood to each other in the relation of husband and
wite, but absolutely declined at first to believe the tale.

“However, having shot a number of birds of both ‘species’, he
found that all the green ones were males, and all the purple ones
females; facts that shook his confidence in his own opinion, while
subsequent observations led him to the conclusion that the aborigines
were right after all, and that he had made a mistake, which he
certainly very seldom did.

“The female Hclectus then is a much more resplendently attired
person than her mate, and may be thus minutely described.—The head
and upper neck are a rich crimson red; the lower neck, breast, belly,
and upper part of the thighs purple, with a lilac shading; the mantle,
back, scapulars, wing coverts, and upper tail coverts rich scarlet, with
a purplish tinge. The flexure of the wings and outer webs of the
quills are sky blue, and the vent and apical fascia of the tail yellow.

“Such a superabundance of rich colouring induced the earlier
ornithologists, who obtained specimens of this bird, to class it with
the Lories, with which, however, it has nothing in common but the
outward resemblance, which is too often deceptive; for its diet consists
of seeds rather than fruit, and it is quite incapable of subsisting upon
honey and the nectar and pollen of flowers.”

The owner of ‘Sir Garnet’ not considering that justice had been done
to his pet, described him as follows in a subsequent number of the
same journal in which the notice had appeared: “I think he is a most
handsome bird, and has got as many different colours on him ag the
female, if you will allow me to relate them: Beak coral tipped with
pale yellow, no nostril seen; head and neck bright grass green, the
feathers like hair; top of each wing bright royal blue; back of neck
yellow; back bright golden green; under the wings bright crimson,
green between with a rose of crimson on the front of the breast;
flight feathers purple; end of the wings crossed at back. ‘The under
part of the tail is purple, upper part bright green; each feather in
the tail is half green and crimson-green, and blue-green and purple.
The end of each feather is shaded like a golden geranium leaf.

“When the light is on him, he is simply grand. I think you will
see by this that “Sir Garnet’ is not to be beaten by any other Parrot,
and can hold his own against all comers, including even his female
partner.”

NEW GUINEA ECLECTUS, 93

From these various descriptions of both the male and female Lin-
nean Hclecti, and especially from the coloured plate, a very correct
idea of the birds may be formed by readers who have not chanced to
have seen them in the flesh, but they must be heard to be appreciated
as they deserve; and although we adhere to the exactitude of the
following description, we beg all who read these lines to suspend their
judgment until they have had an opportunity of forming their own
conclusions from personal observation.

“The Hclectus’’, continues the former writer, “is capable of being
rendered very tame, and learns readily to imitate not only domestic
sounds, but even occasionally the various words and expressions that
are addressed to it, as well as to whistle. But when its beauty and
accomplishments have been fully enumerated and dwelt upon, the question
arises, Are these enough to counterbalance the appalling hideousness
of its truly demoniacal yells? Scarcely, we think; and for our part
we are quite content to leave the Hclecti, polychlorus, grandis, and the
rest of them to Zoological Gardens, where their maddening shrieks are
not much less terrible than those of their neighbours, the Glaucous
Macaws and the Orange- and White-crested Cockatoos.

“Tt is not pretended, however, that a quiet, sedate, even silent
specimen of this species is not to be encountered now and then; but
all we can say is, that we have not as yet been fortunate enough to
meet with one; and until we do we have no room for either of these
birds (male and female) in our collection, whence doubtless our
neighbours would soon insist upon their expulsion.”

Tt will be noticed that while the owner of ‘Sir Garnet’ hastened to
vindicate the character of his favourite, as regards the possession of
personal beauty, he was silent in respect to the more serious imputation
against what may be called its moral side; a fact that speaks volumes
for the correctness of the estimate from which we have quoted above.

Why German writers should have bestowed upon these birds in
particular the appellation of noble Parrots (Hdelpapaget), is somewhat
curious; for, at least in our opinion, they are not nearly as distingué
looking as the Cockatoos, for instance, or even as the Amazons, par-
ticularly the larger species of that genus.

In the Zoological Society’s “List” the Heclecti occupy the third
place in the sub-family to which they are allocated, that of the Pale-
ornithine, family Palwornithide, order Psittact, constituting the genus
Fclectus, of which three species have been exhibited at different times
in the Parrot House, and of which several examples survive to the
present day; particularly a remarkably fine pair of Linnean Eclecti,
which were for eighteen months domiciled in a large aviary in the

94, NEW GUINEA EOLEOTUS.

warm and comfortable “Insect House’, where with a persistency worthy
of a better cause, they continued at variance, we might say deadly
feud, with each other for the whole of that time; and then, when the
authorities at last despaired of their ever agreeing, and removed them
once more to the Parrot House, placing them together in one large
cage, they for a time maintained the same mutually hostile attitude ;
but on our paying a visit to their prison-house a few weeks since (that
is, in the early part of March, 1887), we found them, not one on the
floor, and the other on the perch, as their custom had hitherto been,
but sitting “cheek by jowl,” and actually engaged in feeding each
other !

That is to say, the green male was attentively feeding his purple
partner with grains of half-digested maize, which he brought up by a
regurgitating movement from his crop for her especial benefit;—a
delicate attention on his part which she seemed to greatly appreciate,
as was evidenced not only by a twitching of her tail, but by a little
pleased murmur, that reminded us of the purring of a young kitten;
and the little comedy was continued in spite of our inquisitive inspection
for several minutes; the intelligent keeper assuring us that it was only
within a very few days that the couple had made it up.”

Patience and perseverance are excellent virtues, and to be commended
to owners of zoological collections, as well as to other people. Had
these Hclecti been suffered to remain in their Spacious aviary in the
Insect House, they would, in all probability, ere this, have reared a
family, of which it would have been vastly interesting to have ascer-
tained whether all the members would in the first instance have
resembled their mamma, or whether the sons would, from the first,
have donned the paternal livery; but, in a cage, what chance have
the poor birds got?

Unfortunately none; for if again transferred to the Insect House,
where their former apartment is occupied by some other birds, in all
likelihood they would be “upset”, and the contemplated alliance between
them postponed indefinitely. Carpe diem is the motto in such a case,
or should be; but unhappily folk are not always ready to seize an
opportunity when it presents itself, and the “tide which taken at the
flood leads on to” success may not occur again.

pAMAICA PARROT.

95

SAMAICA “PARROT,

OR WHITE-ERONTED Mazon.

Psittacus collaria, Lnn.
Synonyms: Chrysotis collaria, Gr.; CO. Amazonica, FNscu.;
Psittacus leucocephalus var. 6, Waur.
German: Der Jamaika Amazone. Fruncu: Perroquet de la Martinique.

HIS little bird is one of the smaller members of the genus
Chrysotis, and a native of Jamaica, where at one time it was very
abundant, but is now found in yearly decreasing numbers. It was
known to and described by Linnzus; and is yet to be met with
occasionally in the dealers’ shops on the continent of Hurope, as well
as in this country, where it is priced at from fifteen to twenty shillings;
although a trained and talking specimen would necessarily command
a larger sum, and sometimes it can be obtained for less than the former.
Of its linguistic attaimments we are not able to report favourably;
the various specimens that have come under our notice from time to
time not having attained to any very great degree of proficiency in
the art of imitating the human voice; although domestic sounds, such
as the cackling of hens, quacking of ducks, and the cooing of pigeons
were rendered by one of these birds with extraordinary fidelity.

Dr. Russ is of the same opinion in this respect, and credits Chrysotis
collaria with small capacity for learning to speak, although he commends
it as “teachable” (gelehrig).

It is very destructive to the fruit crops, especially to the oranges,
in its native island; hence a war of extermination is waged against it
by the inhabitants, which must eventually end in its extermination as
a species, unless it could be perpetuated ina state of domesticity. In
the house it is best dieted on boiled maize and hemp seed, with an
occasional tit-bit in the shape of some ripe fruit, or a morsel of sweet
eake or biscuit; but animal food should be strictly prohibited.

96 JAMAIOA PARROT.

This bird has been frequently confounded with its congener, Chrysotis
leucocephala, from the adjacent island of Cuba, from which nevertheless
it differs in several material points. The general colour of the body is
grass green, the feathers not presenting the deep black edging common
to many members of the genus, and especially noticeable in the Cuban
bird; the forehead and lobes are white; the top of the head blue or
bluish green; the sides of the head, the throat, and sometimes, but
not always, the back of the neck ruby red; the upper tail coverts are
greenish yellow; the base of the tail feathers with the exception of
the central pair, which are wholly green, is scarlet; the beak is yel-
lowish horn-colour, the cere greyish white, the legs and feet brownish
yellow, and the belly greenish yellow.

It measures from twelve to thirteen inches in length, of which the
tail occupies about four inches; the wings are short, and the bird by
no means a strong flyer; a circumstance that favours its destruction
by the negroes, with whose oranges and bananas it takes unwarrantable
liberties, which Sambo and Quashie naturally resent, and turn the
tables on poor Collaria, by trapping and making her into a stew, and
feasting off her small but plump carcase; or selling her into captivity
for the remainder of her days.

This species was first received by the London Zoological Society in
1869; since which date several individuals have been added to the
collection, the last in 1881.

As will be seen by the plate it is a handsome bird, and has the
further recommendation of being hardy and not noisy. ‘Two of these
Parrots which we had under observation for some time were very
tame, and showed every inclination to breed, but were, unfortunately,
not in circumstances that admitted of their doing so with any prospect
of success. There is little doubt, however, that favourably situated,
they would breed, and doubtless rear their young to maturity. The
eggs are usually three in number, about the size of those of a small
Pigeon, and are laid on the bare wood; no attempt at lining or
furnishing the nest cavity being made.

It is said by several writers that the young are usually fed on fruit,
particularly bananas, with which they can also be readily hand-reared
if taken before their eyes are open, in which case they become very
tame, The modus operandi is as follows:—“ Sambo, or Dinah, as the
case may be, chews a piece of banana to a pulp, and then putting
the beak of the young bird into his or her mouth, forces the prepared
food into its throat with the tongue.” Whether a Huropean would care
to perform the same operation is doubtful, but numbers of young
Parrots are annually thus brought up by the negro inhabitants of the

JAMAIOA PARROT. 97

various West Indian Islands, who are not as fastidious in many respects
as we are.

Though undoubtedly mischievous, it seems a pity that these interesting
birds should be sooner or later doomed to extinction; for whether
clambering among the dark green foliage of the orange trees, clinging
to the purple or yellow bunches of bananas, or making a reconnoisance
among the crops of maize, they add materially to the animation as
well as to the beauty and picturesqueness of the scene they grace
with their presence; but it is doubtful, to say the least, whether their
various good points are appreciated by the owners of the several crops
mentioned; and possibly were we in a position to change places with
the owners in question (which a kind Heaven forfend!), we should
be of their way of thinking; for we feel vexed with our own saucy
sparrows, when we find a mob of them devastating a bed of crocuses
or of primroses; or busily engaged in scratching up the seed which
the gardener has just planted on the lawn.

It is a case of every one for himself, we are afraid, in which the
weakest must go to the wall sooner or later. The Dodo has disappeared,
also the Great Auk, not to speak of the Dinornigs and the Moa. The
Phillip Island Parrot is also probably extinct, while the Curious-toothed
Pigeon (C. strigirostris), the Great Ground Parrot of New Zealand,
and many others have either passed, or are on the point of passing
away from the familiar scenes they once haunted in peace and security ;
and which, in a few short years at the latest, will know them again
no more for ever. Yet the world jogs on in its accustomed path, and
no one, except a few old fogies, will even give vent to a sigh of
regret for the irrecoverable loss of a whole race of fellow-creatures ;
which no doubt once had a réle to fulfil, and having fulfilled it, were
bound to disappear from the stage of existence, and make room for
others, that doubtless will in the course of time be fain to follow in
their footsteps.

Be that as it may, it is probably hopeless to expect that legislative
enactments will at least postpone the extinction of some of the threatened
races in this and the other hemisphere; for vested interests take little
note of legal restrictions that are not enforced by heavier penalties
than obtain, say in the case of our Wild Bird Protection Acts, at which
our professional bird-catchers simply snap their fingers and laugh ;
spreading their nets in defiance of the law, and taking birds by the
thousand, we might indeed say by the million, from the 1st. of J anuary
to the 31st. of December. What is every person’s business is usually
nobody’s, and so the slaughter (for to trap the poor creatures in the
summer-time is tantamount to killing them) goes on; and fanciers

98 JAMAICA PARROT.

wonder why their favourites have become so scarce; or have even
vanished altogether from scenes where they once abounded.

No, there seems no help for it. Man, be he pale-faced, or black-
faced, is lord paramount over the creation, it would appear; and woe
betide the creature that sets itself in antagonism to him, or, which
amounts to the same thing, he imagines takes up such a position in
his regard. He has no pity where his selfish interests are concerned,
and takes no notice of any feelings but his own in the matter. ‘Those
rascally Parrots,” for instance, he will say, “suck my oranges, and I
shoot them.” “If you do so at every season of the year,” we reply,
‘there will soon be none of them left to damage your property, or
anybody else’s;” ‘‘and a good job, too,” he answers, viciously; where-
upon we retire from the contest, feeling that to spend more time
talking with such a person would amount to little less than a crime,
be an utter folly at all events; and so the White-fronted Parrots must
be left to take what care they can of themselves.

There is one little shred of hope, one little crumb of comfort, left to
us after all. The Parrots are quite as wise in their generation as our
own Rooks, or the Great White Cockatoos of the Australian continent ;
and when about to descend, be it on a fruit or a maize crop, are
cunning enough to post sentries on the tree tops round the scene of
their marauding expedition, which sentinels give the signal on the
slightest suspicion of danger; when the whole flock rise at once into
the air with deafening clamour, in the case of the Cockatoos; and
with the loudest and shrillest cries they are capable of uttering in |
that of the Jamaica Parrots, and hie them away with what speed they
may to safer quarters; returning when the threatened peril has passed
to finish their interrupted banquet.

Persecution has undoubtedly sharpened the wits of many threatened
races, and postponed for an indefinite period, if it has not altogether
averted, the day when the last member of them shall follow his
companions to that bourne from which nor bird, nor beast, nor man
himself has ever yet returned. Parrots, hike Rooks, soon learn to
“smell powder,’ as country people say; to recognise the lethal
weapon at all events that deals death among them from a distance,
they seem also to have learned to measure; for we have often noticed,
when in Australia, that the Cockatoos, Lemon-crested, or Long-billed,
never attempted to rise until we were almost within gunshot, when
the sentinels would give the alarm; and the flock obeying the signal,
would hurry away without the loss of a feather, screaming in terrified
response to the report of our double-barrelled gun.

There are of course still mountain fastnesses and inaccessible ravines

JAMAICA PARROT. 99

even in Jamaica, where the persecuted White-fronted Parrots find a
safe asylum in which to bring up their broods; and as long as such
exist there will be no danger of the extinction of the race; but as
the island becomes more and more densely populated, Collarca must
of necessity be driven further and further back with the advance of
cultivation, and finally disappear. May that day be far distant, for
she is a nice bird, and if not talkative, tame and gentle, and has
many pretty little ways that endear her to those into whose custody
she has chanced to pass.

Dr. Russ asserts that these birds make their nests in holes in trees,
and lay four eggs (in Baumhohlen nisten und vier Hier legen soll);
but three is, by other observers, asserted to be the usual number;
and we have not heard of more than the latter complement having
been laid in captivity, in which no young have, to our knowledge,
been produced as yet.

There is very little difference in the colouring or outward appearance
of the sexes; the male is, perhaps, a trifle larger than his mate, and
has the red throat of a brighter shade; but the resemblance is so
close that it is difficult to say of a given bird, or even a couple of
birds, whether they are cocks or hens; for two of either sex will caress
and feed each other when kept together, as freely and as affectionately
as if they were a real pair.

They quarrel sometimes, it is true; and if these domestic squabbles
are of frequent occurrence, and one of the two birds is always the
aggressor, the connoisseur may be certain that they are really a pair,
that the quarrelsome party is the female, and the quiet one the male;
for, except during the breeding season, the hen birds invariably have
the best of it, and drive their “lords and masters’? about in the most
uncompromising manner; yet, strange to relate, when spring, or instinct,
or call it “love”, has turned their thoughts into another channel, they~
become submissive and affectionate wives. But this meekness only
lasts for a comparatively short time, and when domestic duties are at
an end, Monsieur has to be on his good behaviour, and take care of
himself again as well as he is able.

‘ In the wild state he simply flies away, joins a flock of good fellows
of his own sex, and leaves Madame to shift for herself; sometimes
returning to her in the spring, and sometimes solacing himself with
another partner. True some kinds of birds pair for life, but Collaria
does not appear to be one of them, for which reason it will be as well to
separate the ill-assorted pair as soon as it is observed that the female,
instead of submitting gratefully to his attentions, commences to peck
at her lord, and drive him about the aviary or cage; for we have

100 JAMAICA PARROT.

known cases in which the male has been so persecuted that he has
been unable to feed, and become so weak at last he could not stand.

It is said that a captive bird of this species, whether male or female,
will at once take charge of a young bird of the same kind, and feed
and nurse it until it is able to provide for itself; but we have no
personal knowledge of the fact, although judging from what we know
of similar acts of kindness performed by many birds towards the helpless
of their own and kindred races, we do not think it is at all improbable;
and if any of our readers are cognisant of such attentions haying been
rendered by their birds to others, we shall be glad to hear from them,
and record the fact in the Appendix, with which at some future date
we propose to conclude this work.

Crescendo vires! we gain knowledge as we proceed, and many facts
have kindly been brought to our notice by correspondents since we
began Parrots in Captivity, of which we shall be only too glad to
avail ourselves when an opportunity for so doing is presented to us.

In conclusion we cannot, we think, do better than commend Chrysotis
collaria to our readers as a very desirable pet; from whom, nevertheless,
too much must not be expected in the matter of speech.

101

€UBAN “RARROT, OR
RRED-SHROATED W/HITE-PREADED
Mazon.

Psittacus leucocephalus, Lun.

Synonyms: Chrysotis leucocephala, Auct.; Amazona leucocephala, Scute. ;
Psittacus martimcus gutture rubro, Brss.; P. Paradis?, Suw., Cres.
Gurman: Der weisskipfige Amazonenpapaget, Bcusv.
Frencu: Perroguet de Cuba, Brr.

Pees charming bird bears, as we have said, a considerable resemblance

to its neighbour of Jamaica, from which it is principally
distinguished by the black lacing on the feathers of the head and neck,
and by the red throat. It is also somewhat larger than Collaria, to
which it yields in no good quality, while it surpasses it in linguistic
attainments.

It is probably the longest known of any of the American Parrots,
having been mentioned by Aldrovandi, though first accurately described
by Edwards, and named by Linneus. Not long since we saw a most
graphic portrait of one of these birds in an old oil painting; it was
represented leaning forward, with out-stretched wings, from the branch
of a tree, to reach a cherry held out to it by a pretty child in the
foreground, and had evidently been painted from life. We made a
bid for the painting, of which the artist was unknown, but failed, to
our regret, to secure it.

Catesby, from reason unknown, but probably from the combined
beauty and gentleness of the creature, named this bird the Paradise
Parrot; and the father of chamber bird-lore waxed unusually eloquent
im its praise in his larger work; although in his Naturgeschichte der
Stubenvogel, he dismissed it with the summary remark:—“This is one

102 CUBAN PARROT.

of the most talkative Parrots usually kept. It is found in St. Domingo,
Cuba, and even in Mexico. It is very mild and talkative, and imitates
the cries of cats, dogs, and other animals to perfection. It must be
kept very clean, and not let suffer from cold.”

As to the occurrence of this bird in Mexico, we consider that to be
a mistake; but the old writers had vague notions with respect to the
delimitations of that country, and frequently extended it to the Isthmus
of Panama, or even further towards the south, and confounded this
bird with others that bore a greater or less resemblance to it; hence
the wide habitat they assigned it; while really the White-headed Parrot
is restricted to the Island of Cuba.

Herr A. Creutz, of Stettin (Russ passim), gives a short but some-
what high-flown account of this bird:—‘‘It is one of the most intelligent
birds in the world, as testified by its power of comprehension and
retentive memory; which enable it to speak with readiness, but not
to whistle. As a rule it comes to us more frequently than the Grey
Parrot, and costs less then half the price of the latter.”

, The price of the Cuban Parrot varies from twenty to thirty shillings
a piece for newly-imported birds; while Grey Parrots can now be
purchased for ten or fifteen shillings each; so that Herr Oreutz’s
figures cannot be accepted without reservation. In the time of Bechstein
a Cuban Parrot was worth from five to eight louis d’or.

Dr. Zipperlen, as quoted by Russ, gives “a pretty picture” of one
of these birds. ‘An Amazon of this species in the Zoological Gardens
of this city (Cincinnati), had the misfortune to lose the toe of one
of its feet; and as it used the other foot for perching, it was of
course unable to convey its food to its mouth in the usual manner;
so that when I gave it some small pieces of apple, the poor cripple
was in a sad state of perplexity; for holding a morsel in its beak, it
could not while trying to eat it, prevent its anxious companion from
sharing the feast. The latter, however, would hop down from its perch,
and approaching the disabled one, take the bit of apple from the
mouth of the latter, and so hold it that both could nibble it at the
same time.”

Two Cuban Parrots were received by the London Zoological Society
in 1868, and another ten years later.

Mr. K. Petermann, of Rostock, a well-known amateur, gives the
following account of a Parrot of this species, that has been in his
possession for twenty-two years without haying had a single day’s
illness:—“‘It chatters freely, and almost incessantly, but for the most
part indistinctly; and though it evinces much intelligence and great
powers of discrimination, as well as a good memory, it falls far short

CUBAN PARROT. 108

of the Grey Parrot in every respect.” An opinion shared in by
Dr. Russ, who, nevertheless, is a keen admirer of the Cuban, and
gives it credit for every excellence it really possesses.

Parrots in Captivity is searcely the place for a long dissertation on
the habits of the Cuban species in its free state, or we could quote
an interesting article by Dr. Grundlach; we may, however, extract a
few lines to the effect that the young are frequently taken from the
nest and brought up by hand; when they are more highly esteemed
than those that have been captured when full grown, as the former
are more docile, and learn to speak with greater readiness.

These birds are also said by the same writer to be very destructive
in gardens and orchards, and particularly so in the case of the cocoa
palm, of which they nibble the central shoot, and thus destroy the
tree. It is no wonder, therefore, that they are terribly persecuted by
the planters, without however, as yet, any appreciable diminution of
their numbers being effected; for Cuba is a large island, in which
the Parrots find many safe retreats, where they can continue the species
unmolested, at least by man.

They are very gregarious, and when one of a flock has been shot, or
wounded, the rest fly round it, uttering shrill cries, utterly regardless
of the danger to which they are exposing themselves; so that the
hunter is often able to kill a large number of them before the survivors
appear to become conscious of the peril, and to seek their safety in
flicht ; the instinct of self-preservation asserting at last the mastery over
more tender considerations. *

Tt seems to us horribly cruel to take advantage of a creature’s
affection for its fellows to compass its destruction; but bowels of mercy
are unknown to the colonist, whose crops have been damaged; or to .
a hunter, or sportsman on the look-out for prey, and especially so
when he is anxious to ‘‘make a good bag.”

Of late years these birds have not unfrequently appeared at Bird
Shows. Thus we have seen them at the Crystal Palace, the Aquarium,
and the Albert Palace; and they haye also been exhibited at several
provincial shows, where, however, they do not seem to find favour
with the “Judges;” many of whom resent the appearance of anything
that is new to them, and will pass by the finest and rarest specimens
in favour of some old, we might say hackneyed, species, that has
probably become endeared to them by long association. Shows, never-
theless, are of much benefit to amateurs, as they enable them to see
birds that they would most likely not have fallen in with elsewhere.
The one drawback, from our point of view at all events, being the
high, in many cases prohibitive prices, asked by the owner of exhibits,

104 CUBAN PARROT.

Referring to some old catalogues of the Crystal Palace Bird Shows,
we find that a White-headed Parrot was exhibited there in 1883, in
the “Any other variety of large Parrots” Class, and took a third
prize; the price aftixed was £4 4s. Another was shown in 1884 by
Mr. Washer, under the ill-omened name of “ Out-throat Amazon,”
but was left unnoticed by the Judges; the price asked was £2 10s.
In 1885, Miss Ada Skinner showed a very fine specimen, that took
first prize in the same class, and was valued at the comparatively low
figure of £3 10s. The same bird was exhibited the following year by
the same owner, who then priced it at £5 10s., but it only succeeded
in gaining a fourth prize; and in 1887 none were shown.

The food for this species is the same already recommended more
than once for members of this sub-family, namely, hemp seed, maize,
boiled and raw, and canary seed. A morsel of sweet cake, or biscuit,
or a bit of stale bread, may be given now and then for a change, as
well as a slice of raw carrot, or ripe apple, or a few grapes. “Sop”
is not to be advised; but water, both for drinking and bathing, should
always be available; while sharp grit is a sine qud non if the bird is
to retain its health and beauty. A log of soft wood will afford amusing’
occupation; and a fly round the room now and then will exercise the
wings and the comparatively large muscles that move them.

Occasionally the claws or the beak become overgrown and must be
cut; which can be done by means of a sharp pair of scissors or a nail
nipper, which is perhaps the better instrument of the two for the
purpose. ‘'lte bird should be held in the hands of another person,
and for security from bites should be wrapped in a towel or napkin,
leaving exposed merely the parts that are to be operated on. After
a time, or two, should it be necessary to repeat the cutting, the bird
will not make nearly so much resistance as at first; and finally the
cloth may be dispensed with, as the Parrot will submit with resignation
to the inevitable.

We recollect a short time before his lamented death, seeing a very
fine specimen of this bird at the establishment of Mr. Anton Jamrach.
It spoke several words with a very fair distinctness, and was so tame
it would allow him to take it ont of its cage, and toss it about without
resisting or appearing to be frightened in the least. We forget the
price he asked for it; but probably it was somewhat high, or the
bird would have exchanged owners, as it was a pretty gentle creature;
and being yet young, gave good promise of becoming a valuable
acquisition in the near future.

It is, however, a mistake to suppose that Parrots, generally, do not
require to be taught; but that they will pick up of their own accord

OUBAN PARROT. 105

a variety of accomplishments without any attention to them on the part
of their owner. An odd one here and there may certainly do so, but
as a rule, unless considerable pains are taken, a Parrot will make no
progress to speak of, in a human language.

The more a Parrot is noticed and spoken to, the sooner it will
become docile, and begin to repeat the words and sentences it hears.
We have, it is true, known cases where one of these birds has repeated
with perfect accuracy even tolerably lone sentences, which had certainly
only been once uttered in its presence; but such exceptional talent is,
to say the least, rare; and the contrary rule may indeed be said to
obtain among them.

If it is wished to teach some word or phrase to a pet Parrot of
any species, that phrase, or word, must be distinctly and slowly repeated
before it whenever an opportunity presents itself; and the more fre-
quently the better. At first, very likely, the bird will take no notice;
but after a longer or shorter interval, the patience of the tutor will
be rewarded by hearing the pupil whisper a word, or a word or two
of the phrase spoken to it, which it will do in a low key, and with
a deeply meditative air, as if ib were severely taxing its memory, or
testing its power of articulation. By and bye the pupil gains confi-
dence, and repeats its lesson with more boldness; but not until it is
perfect in it should another trial be made, and a new word or sentence
be introduced, or added to the existing repertory.

By judicious education a Parrot, of almost every known kind, from
the tiny Budgerigar to the gigantic Macaw, may be converted into a
talker, more or less proficient it is true, according to the species taken
in hand; but we have no hesitation in saying that all the Parrots, with
a very few exceptions, will learn to speak; and very likely that the
few that have hitherto been looked upon as non-talkers, may with
greater care than has hitherto been bestowed upon them, develop latent
talents which had not been previously suspected.

Who, for instance, would have imagined a few years since that the
Undulated Grass Parrakeet, generally known by its aboriginal Australian
name of Budgerigar, would have developed powers of speech? but that
it has done so is incontestable; for not only does Dr. Karl Russ, in
his work, Die Sprechenden Papageien, give several instances of talking
Budgerigars; most interesting, but too long for quotation in these
pages, although we reserve some of them for our Appendix; but a
well-known London amateur has recently communicated to the Bazaar
newspaper an account of one of these birds, which he has himself
taught to speak.

“T have at the present time’’, writes Mr. Joseph Groom, on March

III. I

106 CUBAN PARROT.

2nd., 1887, “‘a most wonderful talker in a male Undulated Grass
Parrakeet (Budgerigar); it is quite a plain speaker, and hag not learnt
from another bird, for I taught him myself from the first, and now
he pronounces very distinctly different words he hears that suit his
fancy; such as, ‘Oh! you wicked boy; so youare.’ I find the females
will also talk fairly well.”

If then this mite of a bird can be taught to imitate the human
voice, what may not be expected from the more highly gifted Cuban
Parrot, if taken in hand young and carefully trained? The attempt
certainly is worth making, if only from a pecuniary point of view; for,
say that a newly imported White-headed Parrot is worth twenty shillings
in the market, the same bird capable of repeating distinctly half a
dozen or so ofshort sentences, or even a few words, would certainly
be worth double, or treble, the sum named, or even more. Let amateurs
therefore persevere, for in the Cuban they have a plastic material to
work with; a bird which a high authority in this connection pronounces
to be teachable, good-tempered, easily tamed, and chattering all day.

The Flon. and Rev. F. G. Dution’s account of the White-headed
Amazon (Chrysotis leucocephala).

I reconuuct the first of this species that I saw was a very tame little
bird, that used to run about the kitchen floor in the house where we
lived. He would say ‘‘Pretty Polly’’, and he loved having his poll
scratched. But there his accomplishments ended. After a time his
mistress, whose devotion to him was not, I think, very deep, found
that he was infested with vermin, and sent him to the Zoological
Gardens, from which she never, I believe, took him back.

I have written thus at length about him, because I think he was a
very typical specimen of his kind. Bechstein speaks of it as “very
tame and talkative.” JI should agree with the “very tame.” I look
upon it ag perhaps the most easily tamed of all the Amazons, but as
a decidedly indifferent talker. Other people have given it a good
character for talking; and it cannot be too often repeated, that you
may find clever individuals in species that learn with difficulty; and
individuals absolutely incapable of learning anything of the very cleverest
species. Still, as a whole, the small Amazons are not, according to
my experience, good talkers; and the White-headed is not even good
amongst the small Amazons.

Their price varies according to the number in the market. Unless
the specimen be clever, £1 is ample at any time. They might be
bought much cheaper.

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v ELLOW-NAPED [MAZON,

107

YELLOW-Napep jmazon.

Psittacus auripalliatus, Lss.

Synonyms: Amazona auripalliata, Scuuc.; Chrysotis auripalliata, FNnscu.;
C. auro-palliata, Gr.; C. aureipalliata, Br.; C. flavinuchus ;
Psitiacus flavinuchus, Gu.

Geran: Der gelbnackige Amazonenpapagei, Rss.

Frence: Perroquet Amazone «& collier @ or.

UDGING from the specimens that at different times have come

under our notice, this is a very delightful species, clever, gentle,
tractable, and less given to the undue exercise of its vocal abilities
at their utmost pitch than many of its congeners; it is also handsome
and hardy, and in a word, one to be highly recommended to the
notice of amateurs.

The general colour of the plumage is grass green, darker above than
on the under surface of the body; the forehead, top of the head and
the cheeks are of a paler shade of the same colour; the nape is deep
citron-yellow, which is also, occasionally, the colour of the crown of
the head; the green wings are dappled with deep crimson and_blue;
the tail is green with red spots; the feet and legs dark horn-grey,
the claws black, and the irides reddish brown.

Mrs. Proschek, of Vienna, in Dr. Russ’s Chamber Birds, writes as
follows concerning this species:—“Of all the Parrots I prefer the
Amazons, and of these the Yellow-nape is my favourite. It is the
most charming and delightful creature imaginable. When anyone rings
the bell, or when the dogs bark, the Amazon calls out, ‘There is some
one there!’ (es ist jemand da! ). When it hears me speaking it flies to
me and whispers in the most charming voice, ‘Where have you been?’
(wer war da!). Ifit sees me preparing to go out, it flies on my shoulder,
and calls out in the most plaintive manner, ‘Don’t go, stay here.’
(geh nicht fort, blecb’da). When I take it and put it down on its perch,

108 YELLOW-NAPED AMAZON.

after haying kissed it, and gone out, ij commences to whimper and cry
like a child. When I return and go to see it, it flies immediately on
my shoulder, and exclaims, ‘Stay here’ (bleib’ da). It laughs, cries,
and sings when I ask it to do so, and will lie on its back in my lap
and play like a kitten. It will not bite, lets me do what I like with
it, and is never in the least vicious. In the evening, when all the
other Parrots have gone to their cages, it is the last up, sits on my
arm, covered with a handkerchief, and regularly goes to sleep. After
it has been warmed and kissed, it retires voluntarily into its cage.
When it is sleeping on my arm, and I say, ‘Now, dear Lori, sing’,
it commences in a little soft voice, ‘wie im Bauer.’ It will go to
ladies without any difficulty; and I have no fear that the strangers
will be bitten, but gentlemen it cannot abide. This ever-charming
little creature, after having been in my possession for three years, was
returned to its former master, Herr Schottler, in Bremerhaven. The
poor bird was at death’s door, it fretted so greatly, and had a severe
bite at the root of the beak inflicted by a large Macaw, or a monkey.
I wrote to Herr Schéttler, begging him to let me have the bird to
nurse until it was well: he was obliging enough to consent. ‘Then
began a cruel time, but I nursed it; and the bird becoming in the
interval as dear to me as a child to its mother, recovered at length;
when I bought it, and now my pet is prettier, stronger, and healthier
than ever. It has struck up a warm friendship with a Vinaceous
Amazon, and when the cook is called in the morning, ‘Rosa, bring
the coffee (fosi, bring’ an Kafe), it cries out to the Amazon, ‘Tauberl,
bring the coffee’ (Zauberl, bring’ an Kafe).’’

The London Zoological Society first acquired this species in 1844,
when a specimen was purchased. Another was presented to the Gardens
in 1866, and a third in 1879.

The cost of a newly-imported Yellow-naped Amazon is about forty
or fifty shillings; an educated specimen that spoke well, would of course
command a very much higher price. Dr. Russ quotes the value of a
talking bird of this species at from £6 to £7 10s.

This Amazon was first fully described in 1842 by Lesson. It is a
native of Central America, and is frequently kept by the inhabitants
of Costa Rica, where it is a great fayourite with both rich and poor,
according to Dr. A. von Frantzius, who had opportunities of observing
it in its wild state as well as in captivity; and who gives it an excellent
character for gentleness and capacity for learning.

The Yellow-naped Amazons differ from each other very considerably
in appearance, although the description we have given above is that
more generally applicable to them; but some specimens have blue, and

YHLLOW-NAPED AMAZON. 109

others yellow on the head and face, and some are either almost or
entirely without the yellow collar on the back of the neck, but these
are thought to be immature birds; and it would be interesting to note
the changes wrought in the colour of the plumage of a given individual
by the lapse of time; observations which we have not, as yet, had an
opportunity of making.

It is a large bird, measuring about fifteen inches in length, of which
the tail occupies four and a half inches; the wings measure from eight
inches to eight inches and a half, and cover, when folded, about two
thirds of the tail.

When treating of the Yellow-naped Amazon, Dr. Karl Russ mentions
that Friulem Hagenbeck received in 1878, among other birds, three
supposed members of the species which had the face and the whole
of the front of the head yellow, while the beak was bright yellowish
horn-grey (hellgelblichhorngrau); and when he asked what they were,
Karl Hagenbeck replied, “I do not exactly know, though I believe
them to be hybrids between the Yellow-naped and the large Yellow-
headed Amazon. It is certainly very curious, but by no means
impossible, that such a cross should have occurred in a state of
nature.”

Nevertheless we do not greatly believe in mules as the result
of cross alliances among birds or animals living a natural life of
freedom, though we are aware that such monsters are not of
unfrequent occurrence when the same creatures are reduced to
captivity by the hand of man; their natural instincts blunted, and
their idiosyncrasies lost or perverted by his action. We are more
inclined to think that the Friulein’s Parrots were pied “sports”, which
are not so unusual among the denizens of our woods and fields; and
presumably are now and then to be met with in Tropical America, as
well as in our own less genial climate. The question certainly might
have been set at rest by putting up these birds to breed inter se,
when had there been no result but barren eges, it might have been
confidently declared that the creatures really were hybrids; while had
any young birds made their appearance, it would have been very
curious and interesting to watch their development, and whether they
assumed the usual family livery, or perpetuated the deviation of their
parents from the ancestral type.

In the latter case the presumption would have been that the three
birds were the offspring, not of individuals belonging to two distinct
species, but rather to two races owning a common origin; in which
case the progeny would have been mongrels. It is hopeless, however,
for private individuals to attempt such necessarily costly experiments,

110 YELLOW-NAPED AMAZON.

which should rather be undertaken by the various Zoological Societies
and Sociétiés d’ Acclimatation throughout the world; which, although
they undoubtedly have done a good deal, have by no means exhausted
the possibilities of scientific effort in the direction indicated.

Our London Zoological Society has at various times possessed thirty
species of Amazon Parrots out of thirty-eight enumerated by Dr. Russ,
who divides these birds into three groups; the first of which contains
sixteen species with red dappling on the wings (Mit rothem Fligelspiegel),
and one (Chrysotis zanthops) without.

The second group consists of eight species with blue wing coyerts,
and, for the most part, with red frontal band and red eye streak.

The third group contains thirteen species, subdivided as follows :—
Firstly, five with the edges of the wings and the first wing coverts
marked with red; secondly, two without red dappling on the wings;
thirdly, six species that have red dappling on the wings; all three
sub-groups having red on the heads, and the first wing coverts green.

This division is not without its disadvantages; for the Amazons, as
we have said, are by no means uniform in colouring in many of the
species; and we think a preferable mode of classification is by size,
which varies considerably. Thus we have the large group, veritable
giants of the race, such as Natterer’s, and the Mealy Amazons, which
measure about nineteen inches in length; then we have the medium-
sized birds, of which the subject of the present notice, the Surinam
and Festive Amazons are examples, their length varying from fifteen
inches and a half to fourteen inches; and lastly the small Amazons,
such as the White-fronted and Finsch’s, which only measure twelve
inches in length.

To return to the Yellow-naped. It will readily be conceded that
from its appearance it takes high rank among its fellows; while as
regards its intellectual capabilities it will perhaps come next to the
Double-fronted, otherwise Le Vaillant’s Amazon, which was figured
and described in the second volume of this work. It is certainly to
be regretted that so eminently desirable a Parrot, from the fancier’s
point of view at all events, should be of such rare occurrence in the
bird market; and we may advise our readers to secure every specimen
of the Yellow-naped they may chance to come across.

It is decidedly hardy, even when first brought over, and with the
commonest care will survive in captivity for a great many years. Cases
are recorded where it has attained to quite a patriarchal age, and been
handed down from one generation to another, like an heirloom.

The food should consist of maize, boiled and raw, hemp seed, oats,
a few nuts, and in summer a little ripe fruit; but meal, or animal

YELLOW-NAPED AMAZON. 111

food of any kind whatever, should not on any account be given; as
by heating the blood, such unnatural diet leads to skin disease, and
is one cause at least of Parrots disfiguring themselves by plucking out
their own feathers; a habit that once contracted is most difficult of cure.

We do not think these, birds have so far been bred in captivity,
though some Amazons had young ones in the wood at Northrepps;
but from the description given we conclude them to have been the
Blue-fronted Amazon; a much commoner importation than the Yellow-
naped. If however one species has multiplied in this country, there
is every inducement for amateurs to make trial of other members of
the genus; and the scarcer the species the more remunerative would
be the venture to the enterprising amateur.

Another advantage would be that the progress of the nestling to
adult Parrothood, could be noted at every stage, and numerous doubtful
points in their history be satisfactorily cleared up; while it is reasonable
to suppose that creatures born in captivity would become more readily
domesticated, than others that had enjoyed a previous life of liberty;
or at least were the descents of wild birds, in which the hereditary
love of freedom would of necessity be strong.

The Flon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’s account of the Vellow-naped
Amazon (Chrysotis auripalliata).

I HAvE only kept one of these birds. I got it from Havre, where
it drew a great many people round the shop by its conversational
powers. Jt was quite young when it came to me, so young that there
was but a yellow feather or two showing where the gold nape ought
to be. I kept it through its next moult, and it was bought at the
Albert Palace Show by a lady, who tells me that she prizes it more
than all her other Parrots. It was very clever, but I think it missed
the lively streets of Havre, and found a quiet country parsonage in
England a surprising experience; for it was some time with me before
it said a word. It talked best after the arrival of a Double-fronted
Amazon, which came from Hiayre too. Then, it was very amusing to
hear them talking and answering one another, like a couple of old
Frenchwomen. It was said to sing three songs, of which the names
were given to me; but I think I may safely say that whatever the
accomplishments it had, those were certainly imaginary.

And how many other Parrots are credited with saying and doing
things, of which they are as innocent as Mrs. Harris’ sister’s child was
of “performing beautiful upon the Arp!’? I suppose the people who
tell you what Parrots say, really believe they have heard them. Let

112 YELLOW-NAPED AMAZON.

us hope they do. But at any rate if Jacquot did not sing “Ho la’ la’
Nicholas”, or “J’ai du bon taboc’”, neither did he scream, and the
lack of the vice quite counterbalanced the lack of the accomplishment.
I think Dr. Russ says that the drawback to Amazons is that, however
accomplished they may become, they never quite give up their natural
screams, whereas the Grey Parrot does. But my experience does not
tally with his. I have had at least one Blue-fronted and one Double-
fronted, as well as Jacquot, which never screamed. And with regard
to Greys, though they may give up their natural scream, they almost
always have some disagreeable noise, either the squeak of a creaking
barrow or some loud shrill whistle, or even only the chirp of a Canary;
but rendered, as it were, through the microphone, if I am right in
supposing that the microphone is the instrument that makes the walk
of a fly sound like an elephant’s tramp? So that the chances are
that a good Double-fronted or Yellow-naped Amazon will prove a
pleasanter companion than a Grey, take them allinall. In one respect
Jacquot was more like a Grey than an Amazon. The merit of an
Amazon is that he talks freely before strangers, as a rule, and a Grey
will not. But Jacquot would not talk before strangers, in England at
any rate. In Havre, as I have said, I was told he always kept a
crowd round the shop where he hung. He was a nervous bird, and
though he would come on your hand, was easily frightened. But my
experience of him leads me to say that a young Yellow-naped Amazon
is quite as desirable as a Double-fronted Amazon.

They are about the same value—£2 10s. to £3 each. The food for
the Blue-fronted Amazon suits the Yellow-nape. I would not advise
any one to buy a bird of which the Yellow-nape had fully come, and
which was still wild. They would probably secure nothing but an
unbearable screamer. Of course a clever Yellow-nape, like a cleyer
Double-fronted, is worth a great deal more than £3.

I have talked of Jacquot as “he”, but I don’t feel sure it was not
a hen. The fact is that owing to “perroquet” being masculine, and
“»erruche’’ feminine, all French Parrots are “‘he’’, and all French
Parrakeets “she.” I think it may have been a hen, because it struck
me that the Yellow-naped Amazon exhibited at the last Palace Show
had a much bluer head. Jacquot was of a more uniform green.

MEALY yi MAZON.

118

Meaty Amazon.

Psitticus farinosus.
Synonyms: Chrysotis farinosa, Bop.; C. pulverulentus, Swwys.;
C. farinosus, Gr.; Amazona pulverulenta, Lss.; A. farinosa, Scute.
Guruan: Der bepuderte Amazonenpapaget, oder die Miilleramazone, Rss.
Frence: Meunier de Cayenne, Brr.; Perroquet meunier, Lyin.

HIS is perhaps the largest of the Amazons, measuring nearly

twenty inches in length, of which the tail only occupies about
five inches. It is not a handsome bird, and its capacity for uttering
the most ear-piercing shrieks imaginable, must be taken as a set-off
against its docility and powers of imitation.

Ti learns to speak clearly and well, and is extremely gentle as a
rule: but the strong beak is often exercised upon the furniture, and
if it should happen to bite anyone, either in anger or in fear, the
wound inflicted is not a light one.

It is a native of Brazil, Guiana, and the northern parts of South
America generally, but does not extend into the central parts of the
dual continent; and is decidedly most numerous in Guiana.

Not very much is known of the habits of this species in its wild
state; but under this heading, Burmeister gives the following brief
account, which we extract from Dr. Karl Russ’s Die Papageien:—“It
is found exclusively in the densest forests, to which it resorts in flocks
composed of moderate numbers. In the neighbourhood of Rio and
Pamba I saw many of these birds caged and tame.”

Latham was the first English writer who described this Parrot, which
was scientifically named by Boddaert—Dr. Russ says “in 18737; but
this evidently is an error, as the Mealy Amazon was an inhabitant of
the London Zoological Gardens ten years before that date; a specimen
having been “deposited” on the 18th. of March, 1863, and two more
in 1878, which last may possibly have been those to which the German
doctor alludes. .

114 MEALY AMAZON.

As might have been expected from the character we have unwil-
lingly been compelled to give of this bird, it is not in much request
with amateurs; and specimens may occasionally be picked up for a
few shillings, though the market price is quoted at from thirty to
fifty shillings a piece, and occasionally more. Recently we were asked
£3 for a Mealy, that was evidently suffering from lung disease, for
its feathers were ruffled, it breathed with apparent difficulty, and gaped
every now and then. Needless to say we ‘declined with thanks’,
although we were, at the time, anxious to secure a bird of this species.

A glance at the accompanying plate will convey to the reader an
excellent idea of the bird’s appearance, which may, however, be thus
briefly described:—Size of a Raven, but standing on shorter legs,
looks less; general colour dark grass green; forehead, cheeks, and
under parts yellowish green; crown of the head yellow, changing into
dusky violet, and on the nape to blackish green; back and sides
greyish green; wings dark green, with black, deep blue, and crimson
markings. The tail is dark green, with yellowish and blue shadings.
The irides are brown, and the beak horn-colour. The whole plumage
is plentifully besprinkled with a pearly white powder, which gives the
bird a very strange appearance, and has originated the specific desig-
nations of farinosus and pulverulentus, that have been bestowed upon
it; as well as its English, German, and French trivial names of “‘mealy’’,
“bepuderte”, and ‘‘poudré’”’, which all have the same signification.

It is certainly curious, and, when heard for the first time, decidedly
startling, to find a bird talking with the voice of a man, and repeating
words and phrases with more or less accuracy and distinctness; but
after all the bird’s own natural language, inarticulate as 16 may appear
to us unfeathered bipeds, is really much more extraordinary. ‘True
it may be elliptical, and perhaps incomplete, that is from our point
of view; but in order to obtain the best idea of it that we can, we
should put ourselves in the bird’s place, and not the bird in ours.
This is a difficult matter no doubt; but if we disabuse our minds of
all preconceived notions, it is much easier, than might at first sight
appear, to obtain a knowledge, limited in extent it is true, of what
two birds of the same species are conversing about.

Parrots perhaps are not the best subjects to choose for this novel
study, for domesticity has caused them, to a certain extent, to forget
their native language, or at least has rendered them more or less
inexpert in its use; but even tame Parrots can talk to each other,
and will do so now and then, especially when no human being is by;
and it is astonishing what a variety of intonation, even of syllabic
sounds, can be detected in their utterances by an attentive listener.

MEALY AMAZON. 115

These sounds and utterances, no less than the actions of the birds
are often ludicrously misrepresented by writers; for example, speaking
of the Toucans, a well-known author says, “Grotesque as is their
appearance, they have a great hatred of birds which they think to be
uglier than themselves, and will surround and mob an unfortunate Owl
that by chance has got into the daylight; with as much zest as ig
displayed by our Crows and Magpies at home under similar circum-
stances. While engaged in this amusement they get round the poor
bird in a circle, and shout at him so, that wherever he turns he sees
nothing but great snapping bills, a number of tails bobbing regularly
up and down, and threatening gestures in every direction.”

The above extract is very funny no doubt, but is it true? We do
not mean is it true that the Toucans will mob an Owl, for we have
no doubt that in common with all other feathered denizens of the
woods and fields, they have a horror of the midnight marauder that
comes slyly up on noiseless pinions, and pounces on them in the dark,
when they are unable to resist his insidious attack; but that they
surround him with threatening gestures, “because he is uglier than
themselves’’ is an absurd statement that should not haye been made
by a naturalist of repute. In the first place are the Toucans; are any
creatures for that matter, “ugly” or “grotesque” in their own eyes,
or in those of the Beneficent Being who made them, and fixed the
bounds of their habitation? Certainly not; we cannot for a moment
believe or accept as correct so rash an assertion.

Similarly one may read in other works on natural history that some
bird utters ‘a sobbing sound of deep pain,” when really it igs the
creature’s natural note, and is expressive of a variety of sentiments
which the writer in question has utterly failed to discriminate; or
another, speaking of the Nightingale, will call it “the bird forlorn,”
and take its song to be “ passing sad,” when it is exactly the reverse.

A more truthful, because more thoughtful and observant, writer says
upon the same subject in a recent essay: “There is no more miserable
captive, in a small way, than the ‘call-bird’ employed by bird-catchers.
He beats himself against the bars of his prison, and, at sight of his
free brethren overhead, utters pitiable cries, which an ‘ingenious
naturalist” has thus interpreted: ‘Call-birds manifest a most malicious
joy in bringing the wild ones into the same state of captivity. Their
sight and hearing infinitely excel those of the bird-catcher. The instant
the wild birds are perceived, notice is given by one of the call-birds,
after which follows the same tumultuous ecstasy of joy.’ This may be
man’s view of the situation; but what is the bird’s? Dejected with
confinement, it is placed in a small cage upon the borders of a breezy

116 MHALY AMAZON.

down, or swelling upland. The thistle seed is wafted past his prison
bars—cloud, sun, and gale play upon it. The passionate desire for
freedom swells the breast of the unhappy captive, which at this moment
hears the joyous twittering of an approaching flight. What wonder
that it sends forth a piercing note of appeal, or that its agitation
attracts the attention of its fellows on the wing ?”’

What wonder indeed? but as long as the actions and voices of birds,
whether they be Redpolls, Linnets, or Mealy Amazons, are considered
solely from the human point of view; so long will they be liable to
more or less Indicrous misrepresentation.

The same writer, whose true interpretation of the “ call-birds’” notes
we have just quoted, further remarks in another place, ‘‘ Superstitions
regarding the articulate speech of birds were once widely prevalent
among the Oriental nations, and were fully shared by the aborigines
of the New World. From this stock has sprung an entirely false
estimate of the so-called powers of speech supposed to be possessed
by certain birds above others. Imitative speech is not speech at all,
but mere jargon caught up and reproduced by some fowls gifted with
the faculty of mimicry. These over-praised orators never really talk
less than when giving solemn utterance to some phrase or trick
of human speech; their efforts have import only to the human ear.
They are purely mechanical and accidental, and afford no basis of
understanding among the birds themselves.”

This conclusion, nevertheless, appears to us to be a little overstrained ;
the possession of human speech once, we know, saved the life of a tame
Piping Crow that had wandered from its master’s house into a newly
ploughed field, where a number of its congeners were engaged in
picking up the various grubs that had been dislodged from their
accustomed haunts; and as soon as these wild Crows saw the tame
one, they surrounded and attacked it, when the latter began to volubly
repeat its whole not very choice repertory of ‘ colonial” phrases, which
had the effect of putting its adversaries to immediate flight; whereupon
the tame bird returned in triumph to the farmhouse, where it began
to pipe lustily the tune of “There’s nae guid luck aboot the house’’,
which, under the circumstances, was perhaps the most unsuitable melody
it could have selected.

From our point of view the actions of birds are no less ridiculous
than their mode of expressing themselves in certain contingencies ; for
example, two Mealy Amazons, one of which is combing the other’s
head, or feeding it with half-digested food disgorged for the purpose,
are at once absurd and disgusting; but if we put ourselves out of
the question for the moment, and consider the same actions from the

MEHALY AMAZON. 117

Parrot’s point of view, we shall certainly arrive at another and a truer
interpretation. The head combing is a delicate attention, equivalent to
the human osculatory salute, which possibly a Parrot may consider
ridiculous enough; while the feeding, to our notions repulsive, is the
greatest mark of affection one bird can bestow upon another.

This reminds us of a case that recently came under our notice: a
lady correspondent wrote complaining of her Parrot; we forget the
species, but let us say ib was a Mealy Amazon, a most charming bird,
and hitherto the delight of her life, so tame, so affectionate, and so
clever! but alas! it had within the last few weeks acquired the most
horribly disgusting habit! (there were three or four notes of exclamation
in the original) every time she went near the cage the wretched bird
made itself sick, and brought up great mouthfuls of half-digested food.
What could be the cause of, and what could be done to cure it of,
such an abominable habit?

In vain we assured the lady that the poor bird was not only un-
conscious of offence, but was actually offering to its ungrateful mistress
the very strongest proof of its affection for her, that it was capable of
giving. She would not listen to our explanation, and either sold or
gave away the bird, which she declared acted as she had described
on purpose to annoy her; and to this day she believes that her inter-
pretation of the poor affectionate Parrot’s conduct is the correct one.

In concluding his account of the Mealy Amazon, Dr. Karl Russ says:
“Its mode of life resembles on the whole that of the other Amazons.
It is much hunted, is easily tamed and trained, and learns to speak
well; nevertheless, on account of its screaming, it is not so highly
esteemed as its fellows previously described.”

We may here remark that it is rather on account of the injury done
to the various crops that this bird is persecuted by the inhabitants,
than for the sake of making a few reals by selling it into captivity.

The personal appearance of this large Parrot is not in its favour,
for it looks as if it had been rooting in a bag of flour, and wanted
brushing; and we never see a Mealy Amazon without an inclination
to give it a good shaking; which, by the bye, would not be a very
judicious thing to do, considering the formidable bill of the creature,
and the use to which it would doubtless put it in such a contingency.

Putting, however, the be-powdered condition of the bird out of the
question, the Mealy Amazon is not so undesirable an acquisition as
might from what we have said about it be considered. It screams,
no doubt, and screams loudly too, but it is docile, and learns to talk
fairly well; then its mere size is a recommendation, and its great
hardiness is another. There is no doubt it could be readily acclimatised

118 MBEALY AMAZON.

in our woods, were it not for gamekeepers, and sporting farmers, who
invariably shoot every strange bird they come across, even when they
are perfectly aware that it belongs to a next-door neighbour. On the
other hand, the wood-cutting propensity of this creature would make
it an undesirable one to turn adrift in a plantation, where, with nothing
else to do, it would beguile the time by lopping off the terminal shoots
of the trees; being particularly fond of mutilating pines and firs.

Like most of its congeners, the Mealy Amazon, in its native wilds,
burrows in the decayed branches or trunks of trees, and lays its eggs
and brings up its young in no other situation. According to Prince
von Wied, the latter are greyish blue on the top of the head; but Dr.
Russ considers that this appearance is not constant, and has seen others
with red and yellow in the same position. The powder, however, with
which these birds, old and young, are so plentifully besprinkled, masks
their colours so effectually, that unless they could be brushed, it would
be extremely difficult to say they were anything but greenish grey.

In stuffed specimens, of course, the natural colouring is more per-
ceptible, but when the bird is alive, the curious secretion to which
this Amazon owes its trivial name, covers all; and, together with the
large size of the bird, makes it impossible to mistake this species for
any other.

\ \\
NAN
AW ANN

119

YWOUNTAIN “RARROT
of ‘New ZEALAND, OR ‘KEA.

Psittacus notabilis.
Synonym: Nestor notabilis, Gup.
German: Der olivengriine Stumpfschwanzlori.
Frenco: Le Perroquet Ka-Ka des Montagnes.

A Rene curious bird has been frequently confounded with its relation
the Ka-Ka Parrot (Nestor meridionalis), from which it differs in
many material points; however it is now fully differentiated as a distinct
species, although the Zoological Society of London tries to perpetuate
the confusion by naming one the Ka-Ka, and the other the Mountain
Ka-Ka; which is, to say the least, injudicious.

The Kea is a large bird, measuring nineteen and a half mches in
length, of which the tail occupies seven and a half, and the bill, along
the ridge of the upper mandible, one and three quarters. The lower
mandible along its edge measures one inch.

The tarsi are short, measuring 1.5 inch; but the toes, claws inclusive,
are rather long, the longest measuring two and a quarter inches.

The first recorded notice we have of this species is that given by
Mantell in 1856, not 1848 as quoted by Dr. Russ. It was figured by
the late John Gould in the Supplement to his Birds of Australia, and
was found to be plentiful in the snowy mountains in the province of
Otago, by Dr. Hector, who saw it “among the holes and fissures of
all but inaccessible rocks; which are often shrouded with dense mists
or clouds of driving sleet, eee with terrific violence by the north-
west wind.”

“The Green Parrot”’, writes Mr. Potts in this connection, ‘‘may be
observed entering or leaying crevices in the rocks, or soaring with
motionless wings from peak to peak; far above the screaming Ka-Kas

120 MOUNTAIN PARROT.

or the chattering Parrakeets. It has also been seen feeding on the
ground in the moonlight, and can hardly be esteemed an arboreal
bird.”

The Nesters are a family of flowersuckers, the tongue being furnished
at its extremity with a fine brush-like or filmentous development for
that especial purpose; and yet, strange to relate, the subject of the
present notice is said to have departed from the habits of its congeners
in this respect of late years, and to have acquired a partiality for
quite another kind of food, as we shall presently see.

The Keas are sprightly birds and active, whether on the wing, or
when threading their way through the woodlands of their native wilds.
On the ground they progress by a series of hops, instead of walking
with the waddling awkward gait of the true Parrots, and are quick
and sudden in their movements; springing in a cage from perch to
perch with the agility of a Sparrow.

During the summer their food consists in a great measure of the
nectar of flowers, a banquet of the gods, which, however, they in
common with their relations, the Ka-Kas, vary by feasting on grubs
and insects of all kinds, as well as on seeds and roots, so that they
may very properly be called omnivorous.

When its native mountains, however, are capped with snow, and the
flowers and the grubs have all disappeared, the Kea descends into the
plains, visits the “stations” of the settlers, where, to quote Mr. Potts,
“it soon finds and appreciates that mdispensable requisite of every
out-station, the meat gallows, which it usually visits by night; beef
and mutton suffering equally from its attack, and even the drying
sheep skins are not neglected.”

Were this all, the Mountain Parrot might be pardoned; for what
will not extremity of hunger prompt a starving creature to do? but
after all, the heads of sheep and cattle are what it makes a meal of,
when food of no other description is to be obtained; and these haying
been cast away as valueless by the stockmen and butchers, no great
harm can be said to be effected by the theft.

Mr. Potts, however, relates, on the authority of the Otago Daily
Times, how ‘for the last three years the sheep belonging to a settler
in the Wanaka district, appeared afflicted with what was thought to
be a new kind of disease, for which the neighbours and shepherds
were equally at a loss to account, never having seen anything of the
kind before.

“The first appearance of the supposed disease is a patch of
raw flesh on the loins of a sheep, about the size of a man’s hand,
from which matter continually runs down the side; taking the wool

MOUNTAIN PARROT. 121

completely off in the parts it touches, and in many cases death is
the result.”

At last a shepherd, more observant, or perhaps more imaginative
than his fellows, “noticed one of the Mountain Parrots sticking to a
sheep, pecking at a sore, while the animal seemed unable to get rid
of its tormentor”, and reported the matter to his employer; after
having, not without difficulty, driven away the Kea, and rescued, for
the time at all events, the poor bleeding sheep.

“The runholder gave directions to his shepherds, when mustering
their flocks on the high grounds, to watch the Parrots, with the result
that when near the snow line on the upper ranges, they saw several
of the birds surrounding a sheep, which was bleedmg from a recent
wound in the side; while on other sheep were noticed places where
the Keas had begun to attack them, small patches of wool having been
plucked out.”

“The birds come in flocks”, continues the narrator, “single out a
sheep at random, and each alighting on its back, in turn tears out the
wool, and makes the sheep bleed, till the animal runs away from the
rest of the flock. The birds then pursue it, continue to attack it,
and force it to run about till it becomes stupid and exhausted. If in
that state it throws itself down, and lies as much as possible on its
back to keep the Parrots from pecking the part attacked, they pick a _
fresh hole in its side, and the animal thus set upon frequently dies.”

A most extraordinary story, which, as Dr. Russ, in quoting it,
appositely remarks, it takes no inconsiderable amount of faith to believe.
For our part we confess it appears too circumstantial for implicit
credence; but if true, the mode of attack evinces the possession of no
inconsiderable amount of sagacity, not to say intelligence, by these
carnivorous honeysuckers; combining, as they do, for a common object,
and working in relays to attain it with a minimum of labour and
fatigue. Credat Judceus!

Sir Walter Buller, who quotes the article, from which the foregoing
extracts are taken, in his History of the Birds of New Zealand, expresses
no opinion of his own in regard to it, but leaves it to his readers,
apparently, to reject or accept as they please. At the Zoological Gardens
the Keas did not evince a great liking for the lumps of raw mutton
that were ostentatiously hung up in their cage, but evidently preferred
maize and oats, with which they were always provided.

Tt is possible that in time they might have taken to their provision
of raw flesh, but they did not live long enough to acquire the unnatural
taste, or rather to indulge in it while other and more palatable diet
was available; for with less than their usual discrimination, the

III . oe

122 MOUNTAIN PARROT.

authorities who rule the Gardens, placed the denizens of snow-capped —
mountains in the Parrot House, where a tropical heat is generally
maintained, with the result that anyone in the least acquainted with
the habits of these birds might have anticipated, and a resultant loss’
to science, that will better be appreciated by and bye, when the last
Kea has joined his congener of Philip Island in “the happy hunting
grounds”’, from which is no return.

“Where the Keas so attack the sheep”, continues the writer in the
Otago Daily Times, “the elevation of the country is from four
thousand to five thousand feet above the sea level, and they only do
so in the winter time!”

Yet, so true is the saying, “give a dog a bad name and hang him”’,
these curious and really beautiful birds, that devour so many noxious
grubs during the summer months in their mountain home among the
New Zealand Alps, are doomed, on the authority of a newspaper article,
to speedy extermination; though the same writer concludes his sensa-
tional story with the remark, “On a station, some thirty miles distant
from the other, and belonging to the same owner, at the same altitude,
in the same district, and where the birds are plentiful, they do not
attack the sheep in that way.”

Poor Keas! when you have been all trapped, shot, and otherwise
destroyed, the concluding paragraph, from the article in the Daily Times
of Otago, will perhaps be remembered as well as those that preceded it,
and people will say “‘what a pity! how that wretched Cossus liqniperda
(or whatever the goat-moth’s New Zealand equivalent may be) has
increased and multiplied since the mountain Parrots have disappeared ;”
but then it will be too late to remedy the sad mistake.

Inhabiting as they do the slopes of the New Zealand Southern
Alps, the Kea Parrots are quite indifferent to cold, and could no doubt
be readily acclimatised in this country, were any amateurs bold enough
to introduce into our midst a bird that rightly or wrongly has incurred
such an evil reputation.

It is only during very severe weather that it descends from its
native fastnesses into the plains, and then it is want of food, and not
the dread of cold that impels it to migrate. ‘Those who have visited
its alpine haunts report it to be still comparatively common there; and
at the heads of all the principal rivers in the Canterbury Province it
is to be seen soaring aloft above the rocks, or foraging amongst the
close stunted alpine vegetation; but in the more settled districts of
the colony its numbers are much diminished, and from some places
where it was formerly abundant it has entirely disappeared.

The first Kea seen in the Regent’s Park Gardens was acquired

MOUNTAIN PARROT. 123

by the Zoological Society in 1872, having been presented by the
Acclimatisation Society of Canterbury, New Zealand. Another was
presented by Dr. de Lautour in 1881, and a third was “ deposited ”’
in the following year.

In addition to a “mewing” cry, noticed by Mr. Potts, the Kea
utters a sharp whistle, a chuckle, and a suppressed scream scarcely
distinguishable from that of its congener the Ka-Ka. Nothing is known,
with certainty, of its breeding; but judging from its habits, it is
probable that the nest ig placed in some inaccessible crevice of the
rocks in its wild alpine haunts.

In captivity the Mountain Parrot is very attractive, becoming very
docile, gentle, and playful; it also learns to speak and whistle, and
engages attention by its sprightly active movements. It is frequently
kept by the Maories, who prize a trained bird so highly that Sir
Walter Buller has known £10 to be refused for one that was somewhat
old and dilapidated as to its plumage, but invaluable to its owner as
a decoy. Hven in their wild state they are by no means shy; but in
the Otago province are so tame that they are easily knocked down,
says Sir Walter, by a stone or other missile.

The same writer gives the following minute description of the plumage,
which will be found to differ somewhat from the illustration given with
the present article; but, as Buller observes, “‘The members of the genus
Nestor show a great tendency to individual variation”, scarcely two of
them being found exactly alike:—“‘The general colour of the plumage
is a dull olive green, brighter on the upper parts, with a rich gloss
over all; each feather is broadly tipped and narrowly margined with
dusky black, with shaft lines of the same colour, except on the head,
where there is merely a darker shaft line; the ear coverts and the
cheeks are oliyaceous brown, with darker margins; the feathers on the
sides are strongly tinged with orange red; the primaries are dusky
brown, with the outer webs light metallic blue in their basal portion,
and largely toothed on the inner web with bright lemon yellow;
the secondaries are greenish blue, changing to olive on their outer
webs, dusky brown on their inner, and toothed with orange yellow;
the lining of the wings and the axillary plumes are vivid scarlet, with
narrow dusky tips; the inner coverts towards the flexure are washed
with lemon yellow; the rump and upper tail coverts are bright arterial
red, mixed with olive, and prettily vandyked at the tips with dusky
black, this colour being richest on the middle tail coverts, and changing
on the lateral ones to bright olive, shaded with red and tipped with
brown. The tail feathers are olive green on their upper surface, with
a fine metallic gloss, paler at the tips, and inclining to blue on the

124 MOUNTAIN PARROT.

outer feathers, the whole crossed near the extremity by a broad band
of blackish brown; the under surface is pale olive green, with the
subterminal band less distinct, and broadly on the inner webs with
bright lemon yellow; the under tail coverts are dull olive green tipped
with brown.

“The bill is greyish brown, the lower mandible rich wax-yellow im
its basal portion; the feet are yellowish olive, with paler soles.

“The female is similar to the male, but has the tints of the plumage
generally duller, and the dusky margins of the feathers broader.

“In some examples the lower mandible, instead of being wax-yellow,
is dark brown, and these are probably young birds.”

The Zon. and Rev. Ff. G. Dutton’s account of the Mountain
Farrot (Nestor notabilis).

It is a great pity that these Nestors are not exported, instead of
being shot down by the colonists. At present their rarity and costliness
keep them out of the reach of the ordinary amateur. But from what
one can observe of their playful ways in the Zoological Gardens, they
look as though they would make delightful pets. They are very clever,
and their cages at the Gardens had to be padlocked, for they would
open any ordinary fastening. I daresay they would therefore make
good talkers too. Parrots which are clever in one way are generally
clever in another.

From what a gentleman from New Zealand told me, I gather the
Ka-Ka (Nestor hypopolius) is guiltless of sheep-eating, and that our
subject is the sole culprit. He told me that the Ka-Ka was strictly
a forest bird, and confined to the Northern Island, where there are
no sheep-runs, and that the bird which killed the sheep was a large
green bird, burrowing, and partly noctwrnal in its habits. Not at that
time having seen the Kea, I could only think of the Owl Parrot
(Stringops); but knowing the rarity of Stringops, I could not account
for the bird being so destructive. But the Kea unites all the qualities
my informant attributed to the sheep-killer. It is large, green, burrows,
and flies by night, and inhabits the South Island. However, even if
it be so destructive, the New Zealanders would do better to export it
than kill it. Supposing the price, which is now £25 a piece, fell to
£5, they might still make a profit. It should be noted that the Ka-Ka
in the Gardens preferred Indian corn to mutton.

OO,

CKA

1 OC

125

Great (Brack @ocKaToo OF
New GUINEA, OR GoiiatH WRATOO.

Psittacus aterrimus, GMu.
Synonyms: Microglossa aterrima, Z.8.; Microglossum griseus, Swns.;
M. ater, Liss.; Solenoglossus ceylauicus, Hpws.;
Ara electo, Tum.; Cacatua intermedia, Scuuc.; CO. aterrima, Vit;
Psittacus gigas, Lru.; P. Goliah, Kut.
Grurman: Der Schwarze Ararakakadu, Rss.
Frencu: Microglosse noir & trompe.

HAT so remarkable a bird as the Great Black Cockatoo of New

Guinea should early have attracted the attention of travellers in
its native regions is only natural; for, quite without exception, it is
the most extraordinary looking member of the order to which it belongs,
namely, that of the Pszttacz, as well as of the family Cacatwide, of
which it constitutes tho sole genus Microglossa.

It was described as early as 1707, by the Dutch writer, Van der
Meulen, and figured by Peter Schenk, under the name of Oorbeaw des
Indes, both description and plate testifying rather to the imaginative
powers of the artist and author, than to their fidelity to nature.

Fifty-seven years later, in 1764, Hdwards described it accurately,
not however from a living specimen, but from a drawing, which he
had received from the Dutch Governor of Ceylon; and twenty-six
years afterwards the birds was scientifically named by Gmelin.

Numerous other writers, of different nationalities, have written about
this curious Cockatoo; and amongst them we may mention Buffon,
whose narratives are so readable, but so little, as a rule, to be depended
on for accuracy. Wallace, Lesson, Bechstein, and Meyer have also
given more or less circumstantial accounts of the bird, which has been

126 GRHAT BLACK OOOCKATOO.

so fully described and beautifully rendered by Gould, in his work on
the birds of New Guinea.

The first specimen received by the Zoological Society of London
came into their possession in 1861, and another was purchased in 1875,
which yet lives in the Parrot House, where it attracts the notice of
visitors, no less by its extraordinary appearance than by the comical
antics in which it is prone to indulge.

Although the beak of this Cockatoo is of portentous dimensions,
the creature shows no disposition to make use of it upon men or things;
for it is very gentle and playful with the keeper, and is never to be
seen gnawing its cage, as so many of its companions in captivity are
In the habit of doing.

The figure given in Jardine’s Natwralist’s Inbrary, vol. x. page 188,
does not do justice to the curious appearance of the bird; which differs
in many respects from all the other Cockatoos, especially in the form-
ation of the crest, which is composed of more numerous and more
slender feathers than is the case with any other member of the family.
Our plate of this bird is drawn from the specimen now to be seen
in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent’s Park, and could not be
more true to life if a photograph.

Although usually said to be a native of New Guinea, the Goliah,
or Goliath Aratoo, is also found in the adjacent Islands of Hastern
Australia. Mr. Wallace met with it on the north coast, and Miller
in the southern parts of New Guinea, where it attracted his attention
by its comical antics among the trees: stooping down and opening its
mouth at him as he looked on it with surprise; the deep red colour
of the naked cheeks and the bristled plumage testifying to the bird’s
anger at the intrusion of a white stranger in its haunts, or possibly
to its dread of the unknown. It was also seen by Macgillivray at
Cape York.

It ig curious that the colour of the face should undergo, according
to the emotions that for the time animate the creature, changes analagous
to the becoming, but sometimes inconvenient, phenomenon known
among human beings as blushing; but it actually does blush, not
however from shame, or modesty, as in the case of man, but from
anger or surprise; though excitement will also give rise to the change
of celour, as when it sees the keeper approaching with some “monkey
nuts’, of which it is particularly fond.

That this avine blushing is of service to the bird, and has been
adopted by it as a ruse for striking terror into a foe, as a writer,
whom we need not name, pretends, is, to say the least, improbable;
and the true explanation of the phenomenon doubtless is, that it results

GRHAT BLACK COCKATOO. 127

from an involuntary flow of blood to the part through fear, anger, or
excitement; rather than from a deliberate action on the part of the
bird exerted in self-defence.

The most remarkable fact connected with this strange creature is
the smallness of the tongue; which is more like a round pink worm
with a blunt black head, than the tongue especially of one of the
Parrot tribe. It seems almost lost in the enormous cavern of the
mouth, where it rolls about in the most extraordinary manner when
the creature is eating.

Tt is curious to see this Cockatoo take a great beakful of seed, hemp
for instance, and lodge it in a kind of pouch under the tongue, from
whence it is picked up by that organ, and cracked, grain by grain,
until the creature’s appetite is satisfied, for it is not a large eater;
but, one the contrary, appears to require much less food than from its
size might have been supposed. It drinks freely, and is fond of
splashing itself with water.

The tips of the crest feathers have a backward inclination, like those
of the Moluccan Cockatoos; while those of the Australian Plyctolopli,
on the contrary, bend forwards.

This bird has few points in common with the other Cockatoos, and
is quite correctly classed as the one species of a distant genus. There
is no very appreciable difference between the plumage and appearance
of the male and female, though the latter would appear to have a
lesser extent of bare skin on the face, and to be of somewhat smaller
size.

The young are said to resemble their parents, with the exception
that in the former the beak is of a light yellowish horn-grey, and has
the point less developed, and the feathers on the belly, and vent, the
inner wing coverts, and the under tail coverts are streaked with faint
yellowish lines; but these are points requiring comfirmation before they
can be implicitly accepted as actual facts.

When sitting in a meditative attitude, as it sometimes does, or when
it 18 asleep, the bare cheeks of the Aratoo are covered by the feathers
on the sides of the head; which the bird has the power of using as
a mask for its naked face; so that on the whole it may be looked
upon as a very human bird, blushing and hiding its face like a bashful
girl; but there assuredly the analogy ceases.

Tt does not talk, neither does it make a great deal of noise, though
it can scream of course, for it would not be a Parrot, much less a
Cockatoo, if it could not do so; and lustily, when occasion demanded.
Happily, however, it does not appear to be possessed of any inordinate
desire to let its voice be heard; but must, on the contrary, be

128 GRHAT BLACK COCKATOO.

considered a quite respectable creature, that takes no pleasure in
annoying people by the undue exercise of a faculty that has its uses
no doubt: but is certainly misemployed when rendering its owner a
nuisance to the neighbourhood where it happens to be lodged.

It is a solitary bird, generally found singly, or at most im pairs, in
the densest forests, where Wallace discovered it living on the fruit of
the Canarium commune, the shell of which is so hard, that the nuts
are with difficulty broken with a hammer; yet the Black Cockatoo
manages to extract the kernel, which would be all but impossible for
any other bird to accomplish; and in the process, which is one that
takes time, the Black Cockatoo is assisted by its horny-ended tongue
as much as by its indented and sharp-pointed beak.

As will be seen by the drawing, the latter organ is very large,
with the tip of the upper mandible very long and acute, projecting far
beyond the under mandible, which, although of respectable dimensions,
is, nevertheless, weak and small in comparison.

The colour of the plumage generally is black, but glossed with a
greenish grey tinge; from the quantity of white powder secreted by
the skin and interspersed among the feathers.

It has been remarked that these birds vary considerably in size in
different museums; but this we think is owing rather to the imperfect
mounting of the specimens than to any real difference among the living
birds; for the few individuals we have at times been able to observe
did not vary much in dimensions. Kuhl, however, considered that the
larger birds constituted a distinct species from the lesser, and dis-
tinguished the former by the title of Psittacus Goliah, and the latter
by that of Psittacus aterrimus.

“But”, as Selby very properly remarked, “further observation is
required to verify the views of this ornithologist; and for the present
we adhere to Wagler’s opinion, who considered them identical.”

As we have already observed, an inexperienced or careless taxidermist
will frequently manipulate his subject in such a manner as to render
it almost unrecognisable; now extending the. skin to far beyond its
natural dimensions; or again, by insufficiently softening it, make it
look much smaller than it ought to be, as may be seen by comparing
together specimens mounted by different workmen; and that this was
the case with the skins examined by Kuhl, who does not appear to
have ever seen the bird alive, is more than probable.

The Arara Cockatoo is one of the few birds that maintains a price
altogether out of proportion to its merits; for after all has been said
there is little to recommend it to the notice of amateurs; yet the dealers
demand from £15 to £30 apiece for it, according to Herr Wiener;

GRHAT BLACK COCKATOO. 129

while Dr. Russ prices the bird at from four hundred and fifty to six
hundred marks; and one we saw at Jamrach’s, in Ratcliffe Highway,
a few years since, was to be purchased for £40; but what that veteran
dealer ultimately obtained for his prize we cannot say, probably some-
what less. For our part we should prefer to give £25 or £30 for a
Golden Parrot rather than for a Black Cockatoo, whether it hailed
from New Guinea, Northern Australia, Papua, Waigesa, or any of the
other localities whence it has been recorded; but tastes differ, of course,
and other people need not necessarily be of our opinion in this, or
any other matter.

The legs of the New Guinea Cockatoo are long and somewhat
slender, and the bird hops lightly and freely after the fashion of
the New Zealand Parrots, which are especially active on their limbs,
no less upon the ground than among the boughs of their favourite
trees.

Macgillivray compares the cry of Psittacus aterrimus to the syllables
“hweet hweet”’, and says it altogether lacks the harshness of the notes
of the white Cockatoos; while d’Albertis describes it as “a distinct,
long drawn out, loud and shrill but melancholy whistle.’ The two or
three specimens of the species we have had under observation, seldom
made any sound at all, and appeared to be extremely silent though
active and lively birds, fond of being noticed, and gentle and tame;
yet, as we have said, they can call out when necessary.

The few individuals of the species that are now and then brought
to Europe have been taken from the nest, and brought up by hand
by the aborigines, which would account of course for their docility.
How a Goliath captured when adult would comport himself in captivity,
is a question that remains to be decided, as far that is to say as our
experience goes; but most likely it would prove as intractable as the
rest of its congeners in similar circumstances.

This bird, though using its foot to convey food to its mouth, does
not do so as habitually as the rest of the Cockatoos; proving that it
rather feeds on small seeds, which it can hold in its boat-like under
mandible, rather than on large nuts or fruit that require a prehensile
foot to convey them comfortably to its mouth.

Ornithological nomenclature is often singularly inappropriate and
inconclusive, nor in the present instance is ib much happier than in
many others; some of which have been already cited in these pages,
but more of which remain to be noticed. For example, the name
“Goliath” or “ Goliah”, has, we presume, been bestowed upon the
bird on account of its size; but the Macaws, the Moluccan and Banksian
Cockatoos, are all larger than the New Guinea Cockatoo, and some of

1380 GRHAT BLACK COCKATOO.

them are nearly twice its size, and the same remark applies to the
epithet gigas.

The specific name aterrimus, again, is a misnomer, for the Vasa is
darker every way, and so are the male Banksian Cockatoos; while to
call the poor creature by the name of the dread Alecto, as Temminck
has done, is to libel grossly a very engaging, if somewhat peculiar-
looking, creature, whose “bark is,” infinitely, “‘ worse than its bite.”

The designation Aratoo is a compound of Ara, a Macaw and Cockatoo,
which is, to say the least, fanciful; for it requires a good deal of
imagination to agree with Finsch that it resembles the Arara; all the
reader has to do is to ignore its crest, and fancy its tail longer and
more pointed, and the metamorphosis is complete; but we cannot agree
with the ingenious author of the remark, ‘‘Wenn man die Haube
fortdenkt, und den Schwanz linger und spitz, so gehért nicht viel
Fantasie dazu, um sich einen Arara vorzustellen ;”’ for we think it would
require a very great stretch of the imagination indeed.

In conclusion we can strongly recommend the New Guinea Black
Cockatoo to amateurs, who need be under no apprehension respecting
its character, which is good, we might indeed say excellent; but if
any of our readers possess, and have become tired of the bird, we
shall be grateful if they will transfer it to our custody, if only for a
time ; as the price, at present, as far as we are concerned, is absolutely
prohibitive.

“Whee
Wah?”

i|
a AC
‘ Malt

‘ ty y
yi!” Mi)

a

e OCKATOC

131

@ancGanGc orn Ganca €o0cKATOO.

Psittacus galeatus, Kuu., Lram.

Synonyms: Callocephalon galeatum, Gup.;
Calyptorhynchus galeatus, Vers.; Corydon galeatus, Wau.; Banksianus
galeatus, Lss.; Plyctolophus galeatus, Swys. ;
Callicephalus galeatus, Br.

German: Der rothkipfige Langschwanzkakadu, oder Helmkakadu.

Frence: Cacatois Ganga, ow Banksien a téte rouge.

HIS curious bird, which is not unlike a Timneh Parrot, with a

bright red head and crest, was mentioned by Cook in the journal
of his voyage of discovery to what was then called Terra incogmta
Australis, and is now known by the name of Australia: and was after-
‘wards described and figured by Lesson in 1802.

It is stated by Gould to inhabit the south-west portion of the colony
of Victoria; the islands of Bass’s Straits and the northern parts of
Tasmania; but is- always a scarce bird, so much so that it has never
been seen by some colonists of many years standing with whom we
are acquainted; nor did we ever meet with it during our sojourn in
those parts it is said to frequent.

It is a forest-loving bird, shy and difficult of approach, leading a

solitary life among the topmost boughs of the Hucalypti, with which
the whole face of its habitat was at one time covered, and subsisting
mainly on the seeds of the peppermint gum-tree.
' Authors vary greatly in their estimate of the Helmeted Cockatoo;
some declaring that it makes a most charming cage-bird and pet,
while others, on the contrary, give it a character for peevishness,
moroseness, and in fact everything that a pet should not possess.

Thus Dr. Max Schmidt says that it is a little more active than the
other Cockatoos, but much more morose, insusceptible of being tamed,

182 GANG-GANG COCKATOO.

and unteachable; while Mr. Westerman, of Amsterdam, on the contrary,
declares that no bird could be tamer, or more gentle, and moreover
that it speaks very well; a statement that is supported and confirmed
by Dr. Russ, who says he bought one of the dealer Hieronymi, which
would come on his finger, let itself be stroked, and would return of
its own accord to its cage.

The price of this bird is necessarily high, in consequence of the
infrequency of its appearance in the bird-market. £8 was demanded
in 1880 by Jamrach of London for a fine specimen that had come
into his possession.

The London Zoological Society first obtained a Ganga in 1859; since
which date four more are recorded in their list, the last of them having
been purchased in August, 1870. At present the species is unrepresented
in the Parrot House in the Gardens.

These birds are not long-lived as a rule in captivity; a fact which
would tend to prove that the proper treatment for them has not yet
been discovered, and that some more appropriate substitute for the
aromatic seeds of the peppermint gum-tree must be found, than hemp
and maize, before connoisseurs can hope to see the Gangas established
as inmates of their avairies or bird-rooms.

It is not surprising that amateurs should differ with regard to the
disposition and adaptability or otherwise of this bird for cage life, for
but few of them have enjoyed an opportunity of intimately studying
the Helmeted Cockatoo in confinement. Our own experience with the
species does not extend, we regret to say, beyond a casual acquaintance
with two specimens of the race in the Parrot House of the Zoological
Society, in Regent’s Park, a few years ago; since which time we have
tried our best to obtain one, but without success.

One London dealer, to whom we spoke upon the subject, went so far
as to assure us, confidentially, that it was impossible to bring over
the Ganga alive, because it subsisted entirely upon roots, for which
no adequate substitute could be provided on the journey. We ventured
to suggest potatoes; but the dealer, a very consequential personage,
pooh-poohed the idea, and said it could not be done. We then spoke
to the late Mr. A. Jamrach, who promised to look out for one for us;
but his untimely death put a stop to the strong hope we entertained
that our desire to possess a Ganga would one day be realized.

In looking over Dr. Karl Russ’s Die Papageien a short time since,
we lit upon the following curious passage, which we transcribe in the
original :—Hline wunderliche Hrfahrung hat Dr. Hasskarl im zoologischen
Garten von Buitenzorg auf Java i. J. 1842 gemacht. Dort ertappte
man einen schwarzen Kakadu mit rothem Schopf, welcher inhermals

GANG-GANG COCKATOO. 133

Meerschweinchen getddtet und gefressen hatte, und Pfarrer Snell, der
dies mittheilt, hebt hervor, dass, obschon nichts absonderliches darin
liege, wenn Papageien Fleisch fressen, hier yorniimlich die Tédtung
des kleinen Nagers durch den Kakadu auffallend erscheine.”

Which we thus translate: “Dr. Hasskarl had an extraordinary
experience in the Zoological Gardens of Buitenzorg, in the island of
Java, in the year 1842; where a black Cockatoo with a red head was
taken, that on several occasions killed and ate guinea-pigs; and Pastor
Snell, who relates the story, further adds that although there would
be nothing remarkable in that, if Parrots ate flesh; yet the before-
mentioned killing of the little rodents by a Cockatoo, must appear
very strange.”

It is possible, of course, that the above black Cockatoo with the red
head may not have been a Ganga, but some other kind of bird; but
it must nevertheless be borne in mind that, in captivity at all events,
some of the Psittacd will kill small birds and animals, if they get
the chance; their natural vegetarian appetite changing to one for a
carnivorous diet. Thus a dear old Goffin we once possessed killed and
partially ate a truant Canary that wandered into his cage; and the
reported partiality of Nestor notabilis for mutton, dead or alive, are
cases in point.

But how did a Tasmanian, or at least a Southern Australian Cockatoo
get to Java? ‘The distance is immense, and the climate so different,
that it is almost impossible the guinea-pig killer, if really a Ganga,
could have arrived at Buitenzorg of its own accord, but must have
been conveyed thither by some one, from whose custody it afterwards
escaped, which would account for its cannibalistic proclivities.

Almost daily we receive communications from persons whose Parrots
or Cockatoos are suffering in various ways, in consequence of having
been fed with “all sorts of scraps (including meat) from the table”’;
and we regret to say that our Goffin had been thus indulged before
passing into our keeping, which might perhaps account for his repre-
hensible conduct with regard to poor little Yellow Feathers; while as
to Nestor, we confess, we are at a loss to account for his perverted sense,
otherwise than by assuming him to have been driven by sheer want
to the commission of deeds that have made his name a bye-word in
New Zealand, and must bring about his extermination at no distant
date, as we have related when treating of that curious bird.

“Are bacon and ham bad for a Parrot?” recently enquired an
innocent correspondent, adding, ‘because I have been told that is the
reason my Polly has taken to pulling out her feathers, and biting
herself, until she makes herself bleed.”

134 GANG-GANG COCKATOO.

To which we replied, “Cause and effect, my dear sir; stop the
unnatural diet, and perhaps the feather-picking habit will be abandoned”;
but we have not since heard from our correspondent; though once a
Parrot, or a Cockatoo, acquires such a depraved taste as that of flesh
eating, there is no telling what enormities it will not perpetrate, and
a cure is all but impossible. We cannot get it to sign a pledge,
and it is deaf to reason; nay, let us charm never so cunningly, it will
disregard all our remonstrances; and, whenever it is left alone for a
moment will recommence to disfigure itself.

“The rarity and beauty of the bird’’, writes Dr. Russ of the Ganga,
“naturally cause the price to be high”; and there seems no prospect
of the figure being reduced, seeing that the bird is an inhabitant of
the densest and most inaccessible districts, into which no one but an
aborigine could penetrate; and these, in Tasmania at all events, as our
colleague pathetically laments, are extinct.

Poor people! when Cook, in an ill-fated hour, discovered their beautiful
and climatically highly favoured island home, they were very numerous;
but in considerably less than one hundred years the last survivor of
the race died a prisoner to the usurping whites in Hobart. We are
a great nation, but we have not been kind to the aborigines anywhere
where we have set our colonising feet; though perhaps in no possession
of ours have we been so altogether wanting as in Van Dieman’s Land,
where the natives were hunted down, shot, poisoned and massacred
wholesale, like wild beasts, by the settlers and their bond slaves, as
the deportés practically were; until, as we have said, the last survivor
of the race died a few years since a virtual prisoner, though made
much of as a curiosity when it was too late.

A case of the survival of the fittest, some one may say. Well, we
cannot argue the point, nor is this the place to do so; but we hope
that it may be a long long time before the Gang-Gang, and the other
beautiful members of the Parrot family that are now to be found in
tolerable abundance in Tasmania, where the Swift Lorikeet frequents
the streets of Hobart, follow their human compatriots to that bourne
from whence is no return.

To resume: there is considerable difference between the male and
female Helmeted Cockatoo; for while the head, face, and crest of the
former are bright scarlet, the same parts in the latter are a dusky
brownish grey. The young are said, on the authority of Gould, to
resemble their mother; and although we have not chanced to meet
with one of its nest feathers, there can be no reasonable doubt upon
the matter; seeing that in almost every case where the female differs
in plumage from her mate, all the young resemble her until after their

GANG-GANG COCKATOO. 135

first moult: and sometimes the young males do not assume the full
dress of their father, until they are two or three years old.

The Ganga is rather less than the Rose-breasted Cockatoo. It is a
good climber and strong flyer, but somewhat of a clumsy bird upon
the ground; as might be expected from its arboreal habits.

Nothing certain is known of the creature’s habits in its wild state,
that is, with regard to the season or site of its nidification, the number
of the eggs, and whether there is, or is not, more than one brood in
the year; and the probability is that these particulars will not be
ascertained unless some Zoological or Acclimatisation Society takes the
matter in hand, and lodging a pair of Gangas by themselves in a
suitably furnished aviary, gives them an opportunity of reproducing
their species in captivity; for it is to be feared that as cultivation
proceeds in their native land, and the settlers encroach upon the wil-
derness, the shy and solitary Helmeted Cockatoo will at last be added
to the already too long list of extinct species.

The Ganges possessed at different times by the Zoological Society
were fed on canary seed, hemp, and oats; to which should, we think,
have been added boughs of trees with leaves and buds on, among
which they would have been able to find some larve of various insects;
upon which there is little doubt these birds at least partially subsist
in their island home.

The thought occurs to us in this connection, whether it might not
be possible to import the seeds of the Eucalypti in sufficient quantity
to constitute them an article of commerce for the feeding of Australian
Parrakeets and other birds, natives of that great island and its depen-
dencies?

Perhaps some bird-importer or seed merchant will take the hint,
and make the experiment.

It is certain that the proper food for many of the most beautiful
of the denizens of the Australian bush, has not yet been obtainable
for them in captivity; the Gangas are a case in point, and the same
might be said of Pulcherrimus and Multicolor, not to speak of Bourke’s
Parrakeets and the ever-charming Pileated Parrakeet; which can but
rarely be induced to exchange a life of freedom for one of confinement
for any length of time.

The Port Lincoln, too, the Collared and Bauer’s and Barnard’s
Parrakeets, are not as acclimatisable as they ought to be; and the
reason is that the only food we are able to provide for them does
not quite snit their constitution, and that they pine and in too many
imstances die for want of something we cannot give them. What more
hkely than that this desideratum should be the seeds of the Hucalypti,

136 GANG-GANG COCKATOO.

that certainly furnish a large portion of their sustenance in their native
land?

It is not fair to generalise from an individual, or even from two
or three individuals, for a variety of trivial circumstances may conduce
to impart quite another complexion than the natural one, to its or their
character; and therefore we hesitate for the present to recommend the
Ganga to amateurs, who are not very strongly imbued with a love of
foreign birds, and that for the reasons stated—they are shy birds;
consequently nervous, and require patience and perseverance in the
treatment accorded them. So far they have not proved themselves
long lived in captivity, and especially they are expensive.

On the other hand, they are handsome birds, undeniably handsome,
and of such rare occurrence, that their very scarcity is in itself a
recommendation in the eyes of many fanciers; some of whom are ready
and willing to put up with almost any amount of inconvenience and
even loss for the sake of possessing a unique, or at all events a rare
specimen of animated nature, which they rejoice to be able to call
their very own; and which would lose half its value in their estimation
if everybody, or indeed anybody, could share its possession with them.

A reprehensible sentiment it may be said; perhaps so, but very
human.

The flon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’s account of the Gang-Gang
Cockatoo (Callocephalon galeatum).

Arter seeing the beautiful drawing of this bird in Gould’s Birds of
Australia, I was always hoping I might see one; perhaps that it might
be imported in sufficient numbers to enable me to buy one. At length,
to my great delight, I saw one at the Zoological Gardens. Alas!
never was there a greater proof that “distance lends enchantment to
the view.” The bird was neither brilliant in colour, nor graceful in
shape; but it was decidedly sulky in temper, and its name Gang-Gang
was music itself compared to its note, which is the most rasping and
aggravating of all Cockatoo cries, and that is saying a great deal.

Our editor has still a great desire to possess one of these birds.
He generally seems to me to be in luck about Parrots. I hope he
may get his wish. For my part, if Fortune has no unkinder turn in
store for me than that I should never possess a Gang-Gang, that fickle
lady and myself will always remain on the best of terms.

GREAT PALMON-CRESTED (COCKATOO,

137

RED-GRESTED €0CKATOO.

Psittacus Moluccensis, Kut.
Synonyms: Cacatua Moluccensis, Guu.; C. rosacea, Vit. ;
C. erythrolophus, Lss.; C. rubro-cristata, Fuscu.; Plyctolophus
rosaceus, Lz.; P. Moluccensis, Lye.
German: Der rothgehiubte oder Moluckenkakadu, Ress.
Frenon: Cacatois a huppe rouge, BrEn.

E cordially agree with Dr. Russ that this fine bird, we might

go further and say this magnificent bird, is among the hand-
somest of them all (gehdrt zu den schinsten unter allen) ; for although
not so brilliantly attired as the Macaws, nor so fluent a talker as the
Grey Parrots and some of the Amazons, it possesses a quiet beauty
that is all its own, and will often learn to talk with astonishing
fluency. It has but one drawback that we know of, namely, it is not
always sufficiently careful in the exercise of its particularly sonorous
voice.

To hear one of these birds repeating in a vastly exaggerated key
the triumphant and self-congratulatory cackle of a domestic fowl, that
has just fulfilled the chief object of her existence, laying an egg, is
simply to abhor it (‘ hate” is much too mild an expression); but to
listen to it as it whispers, with depressed head and uplifted crest, in
the softest and sweetest of feminine tones, “Oh! you pretty, pretty
Cockey, how I love you,’ or some such phrase, is equally to adore
it; for here again the common verb “to love” is wanting in adequate
power to fully describe the feeling inspired in the mind of the hearer
and beholder, by the charming voice and no less charming gesture of
the bird; as it whispers in gentlest voice, and presents its head to be
rubbed with the most bewitching confidence.

III. L

138 GREAT SALMON-CRESTED COCKATOO.

Perhaps, however, on the whole it is better to make the creature’s
acquaintance for the first time when it is in the former mood, for
the sudden discovery that the beautiful possessor of that entrancing
voice can transform itself at will into a shrieking fiend, is almost too
distressing to be borne with equanimity; and the latter phase of its
character comes like a pleasant surprise upon the owner, who had only
known his acquisition by its demonical yells, and had already meditated
the wringing of its neck, notwithstanding the beauty of its coat, in
the fear that he himself might be rendered stone deaf, or at least be
summoned by one of his neighbours as a public nuisance.

Yes, the great Moluccan Cockatoo has its drawbacks we admit; but
what a truly magnificent creature it is when in perfect plumage, and
how gentle and loveable it can be when kindly treated and made
much of.

Surpassing in size of body the largest of the Macaws, and covered
with feathers that remind one of childhood in the country and rasp-
berries and cream, it is no wonder this monarch of the Cockatoo
race has had admirers from the earliest day of its importation into
Hurope, almost a couple of centuries ago, as well as enemies that
cannot say a good word for it, and in whose eyes its merits are out-
weighed by its faults; which very often, if not always, are the result
of wrong treatment and ignorance of its habits and requirements.

As we have said, it is a large bird, measuring seventeen or eighteen
inches in length, of which the tail occupies about six; the wings are
each about a foot long, and very powerful, so that the bird when wild
has great capacity for flizht; often soaring at such an elevation that
it is invisible to the naked eye, although its piercing cries are distinctly
audible, as it flies to and fro between its feeding and its sleeping
grounds.

White, tinged with pale rose red, is the prevailing colour of the
plumage, which in a perfect specimen is powdered copiously with a
substance resembling French chalk in appearance, that adds a wonderful
lustre to the coat. The crest, which is about six inches in length,
lies down the back of the head and upper part of the neck, and is
scarcely noticed until the bird, getting excited from whatever cause,
lifts it up and displays not only the length and width of the plumes
that compose it, but their beautiful ruddy orange tint. The side tail
feathers have their inner webs a pale primrose yellow, from base to
centre, the remaining portion, as well as the central pair, being white.
The beak is bluish black, the circle of the eyes pearl grey, and the
eyes themselves deep hazel, although some individuals have them of
a darker shade than others, and these may be the males. Dr. Karl

GRHAT SALMON-ORESTED COCKATOO. 139

Russ describes the eyes as black, or dark brown (schwarz bis dunkel-
braun), which is also our experience as regards them.

Though natives of the Moluccas, principally of the Island of Ceram,
these grand birds are not in the least delicate, but, on the contrary,
are perhaps among the hardiest of the members of the great family
to which they belong; for if turned out during the summer they endure
the cold of our winter with perfect impunity, and gain in loveliness
of feathering what they may lose in tameness and docility; though a
tame Moluccan Cockatoo, that is permitted to range a wood at its free
will, never becomes very wild, and will always return to its cage for
food; although it will occasionally stray to a great distance, and not
perhaps be seen or heard of for a day or two, when it will return
“as hungry as a hunter’’, just as the disconsolate owner is beginning
to fancy that his pet is lost; but of that catastrophe there is no fear,
unless some felon sportsman should chance to see and shoot a bird
he cannot but know to be a domestic one, and belonging to a
neighbour, if not a friend. If left alone, the Moluccan Cockatoo, when
tired of rambling, especially if hungry, will always return to his cage,
for he is gifted, among him many desirable qualities, with a strong
homing instinct, and has never been known to lose his way when
foraging abroad.

From among a multitude of anecdotes relating to this species, we
select the following for reproduction in these pages; premising that
the information thus given, was elicited by the annexed query that
appeared in The Bazaar for January 26th., 1887.—“Can any reader
tell me anything about the ‘Large White Demon Cockatoo’ ?”? to which
an anonymous correspondent thus replied :—

“T do not know its age, but it must be ten years since my sister-
in-law went to a bazaar in Calcutta, to buy a gift for a brother just
starting by train. This bird has the most fascinating way of whispering
confidentially, ‘Pretty Cocky !’, and the dealer seeing my sister taken
by it, of course told her that it was the most splendid talker in
Calcutta, with strings of sentences and the power of speedily learning
anything, and named a high price, which was paid, and the bird
changed hands, but has never learned anything else.

“Tn its feathered and clean days it was a very lovely bird. I used
to wash it with soap and water, and then it was all of a faint bluish
pink; but I was advised not to wet it, and have not done so for more
than a year, so that it looks rather dirty now, and has for some time
been plucking out its feathers. I sometimes think it has insects, but
have never seen any.

“At times it is exceedingly fierce. I have geen it keep seven men

140 GRHAT SALMON-CRESTED COCKATOO.

armed with spades and long brooms, in a corner. It is extraordinarily
fond of children, and perfectly safe with the youngest infant. It is
generally most civil to visitors, but working men it cannot abide (on
the watch-dog principle, I suppose) ; and if one of them lifts a hammer,
or kneels down to do any work, it utters its warning cry of ‘Coquey!
Coquey!’ and flies at their heels; and when it has hurt or terrified its
victim, flies away shrieking, as if itself in agony or pain, and then
goes about limping to make me believe that it has been kicked.

“T notice that the bird fights on other grounds, especially when it
has chosen a corner as its own, which it defends against all comers,
flying out at intruders, and appearing to immensely enjoy their dis-
comfiture, though it is the only member of the household that does
so. However, the instant I say ‘enough!’ and hold out my hand, it
is quiet; for it likes to be petted, but not for very long, as it is
equally fond of a change of occupation. It is frightful on furniture,
window frames, and paper, anything, in a word, that can be destroyed.

“Tt used always to live in the open air in India, and drive about
on my brother’s carriage, and in Scotland drove with me regularly
when I went out, simply holding on to the back of the pony-chaise,
and wild with delight. In the Hast it lived in the trees; but here,
in a tiny garden, in the middle of a town, it is too destructive, and
too great a temptation to thieves. It has been stolen twice, but nearly
bit the man’s hand off on one occasion, and then flew, shrieking, to
me in triumph.

“Tt is afraid of chickens, or indeed of any bird whatever. It lives
mainly in a small cage, and, when tired of that, in a barrel with
paper in it, where it is very fond of burrowing, and where it lays its
eges, of which it deposits about three in the course of a year. It
delights to fly out of the barrel at the maids, or anyone else who
comes near, and seems greatly to enjoy their screaming and running
away.

“T am not aware whether Cockatoos of this species (the Red-crested
Moluccan) have been bred in England; but if anyone who has a male
bird of the same kind would kindly lend it to me, I would be glad
to try the experiment, and take the greatest care of the loan; especially
as I understand that the care and rearing of young ones has the
effect of preventing feather-eaters from destroying their own plumage.

“On reading over what I had written, I am shocked to find what
a one-sided character I have given of my dear but not faultless bird;
but some people are so timid as regards Parrots that it is only right
to warn them against wickedness; and yet that is not the word, for
it is pure fun and mischief—méchante as opposed to mauwvarse.

GREAT SALMON-CRESTHD COCKATOO. 141

“You will be interested to hear how my bird once saved an infant’s
life, by enabling one that was totally inexperienced in the matter to
wean another. In fact it is a bird one might write a book abont.”
Our correspondent, however, furnishes no details of this interesting
experiment, but proceeds: “It (the Cockatoo) was devoted to its barrel
the first year, and its ways were most curious. It hid its egg deep
down in the paper, which was all bitten up into minute scraps; then
it did not sit as ordinary birds do on their eggs, but laid sideways
and rolled about. The last two years it took no notice of its eggs
whatever.”

The above interesting letter elicited several replies, and offers of
mates for the lady’s Cockatoo, but nothing came of it, and the Mo-
Iuccan lives a life of single blessedness to the present day; which is
a pity certainly, but cannot be helped. We did think of giving her
a trial, but reflection as to the risk incurred decided us finally to
abandon the notion too; for after all it was doubtful if such a bird
would have agreed with a mate, as happened in the case of another
correspondent, who once introduced two of these birds to each other;
when, although they were an undoubted pair, they immediately com-
menced to fight so furiously, that one of them must have been killed
if the owner had not interfered and separated them—a by no means
easy task, during which he was severely bitten.

Again, Parrots may be very kind to people and children in their
own house, and when transferred to a strange place may fiercely attack
everyone, child or adult, that comes near them; so, as we have gaid,
every negotiation fell through, and the idea of breeding Moluccan
Cockatoos in captivity, is for the present in abeyance.

As might be expected, these birds live to a great age. Dr. Russ
relates, on the authority of Herr Dusek, of Vienna, that a Moluccan
Cockatoo, which had lived twenty-one years in the aviary of the Princess
Schwartzenberg, was then placed with a male, and soon afterwards
laid an egg!

A dealer of Berlin, F. Schmidt, acquired one of these birds, which
had been in the possession of one family, handed down from father
to son, for nearly one hundred years; and it afterwards lived with him
for nineteen years more, and then died, not from old age, but from
an accident that befel it.

As happens with most of the Parrot family, the males are the best
speakers; the females only learning to say a word or two, which they
repeat in a softer tone than their mates, although they can scream,
or yell rather, in quite as loud a key.

Tn this country the Moluccan Cockatoo appears to command a higher

142 GRHAT SALMON-CRESTED COCKATOO.

price than it does in Germany, where Dr. Russ quotes the price at
from thirty to one hundred and fifty marks; but we never knew of
one here that has been offered, except by a private person ignorant
of its value, for less than £5 or £6, and more frequently the latter
price than the former.

When excited, or when shrieking for its own amusement, and the
torture of sensitive ears, its truampet-like note of “tertingué, tertingué”,
the Moluccan Cockatoo stands on tip-toes, elevates its beautiful crest,
spreads its wings, and puffs out every feather on its body; so that it
becomes a most alarming-looking object, though one of exceeding
beauty. A very tame bird of this species, however, will very seldom
shriek, and will trot after its master or mistress all over the house
like a pet dog; which sagacious animal it can also compete with as a
household guard.

Not far from where we live is one of these birds, that has been
in the possession of the family that own it for quite a number of
years. It is kept, for the most part, chained to a stand; which, by
the way, is a much better method of keeping a large Cockatoo than
confining it in a cage. It is very tame, and a good talker; one of
the expressions it most affects beg the interrogation, “Who are you?
What do you want?’ uttered in the most human-like of tones. It is
usually kept in the breakfast-room, which is on the ground floor, and
looks out on the common. One night, or rather early one morning,
the master and mistress of the house were roused by the shrieks of
the Cockatoo, which kept on calling out “Who are you? What do
you want?” in the loudest and most excited manner,

“T am sure, my dear, there are thieves downstairs;” said the lady.
“Nonsense!’’ exclaimed the gentleman, impatiently; “it’s the cat more
likely.” However, as the noise continued, he thought he had better
go and see what was the matter, if only for the sake of quieting the
bird; and arming himself with some weapon and a light, proceeded
downstairs, cautiously, to the breakfast-room, where he found the
Cockatoo with every feather literally standing on end from excitemsnt,
and the window open!

Nothing was missing, however, for the thieves, or thief, had been
so thoroughly alarmed by the bird that they, or he, had evidently not
even entered the room, but had fled at the first challenge, leaving
the sash raised. The gentleman shut and bolted the window, praised
his good guard, gave it a tit-bit, and went back to bed, feeling thankful
that he was the owner of so sensible and valuable a creature.

It is to be hoped that at no very distant date, some amateur may
have the gratification of seeing a brood of these birds reared in his

GREAT SALMON-CRESTED COCKATOO. 148

avairy, for eggs are of frequent occurrence, even in the case of solitary
females ; and the process of egg production, appears to be unattended
with the pain and danger that accompany it in the case of the smaller
Cockatoos.

A correspondent, who possesses a fine specimen of the Moluccan
Cockatoo, writes as follows respecting her pet:—“My bird has no
history ; his chief merits are his beautiful plumage and hig affectionate
ways; he is no talker, but a great thief, and delights in stealing things
off the table, if we pretend not to see him. His chief amusement is
dancing in the funniest way, and executing steps like a young lady,
with his beak in the air.”

From the foregoing account we incline rather to the belief that the
bird is a female, for the males are more loquacious (we are now speaking
of Moluccan Cockatoos), and not, as a rule, so tame as this bird
appears to be; and in a subsequent communication from its owner,
that lady says: “My red-crested bird has densely black eyes, all over
alike, with no discernible pupil; but I begin to think he is a lady,
for he is so remarkably polite and affectionate lately to our Yellow-
crested Cockatoo, which is decidedly a male. It is very funny to see
the other offering kisses to him across the room. I put the stands
close together to-day, but the Yellow-crest showed signs of fight, and
snapped at his admirer!”

The Fon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’s account of the Great
Salmon-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua Moluccensis).

Tus, according to my experience, is the most charming of all the
Cockatoos, and very much to be recommended to any one who can let
them fly loose. Taken as a species, they are the best talkers amongst
the Cockatoos; but I must admit I never kept a Goffin. When a
Lemon-crest is a good talker, he beats the Salmon-crest; but taking
numbers imported into consideration, you find a greater proportion of
Salmon-crests talk than of Lemon-crests. He is also the gentlest of
all the Cockatoos, and the most certain.

The first I ever had did not talk, but he had great character. I
don’t think he was altogether wise, for he took the greatest possible
dislike to me, who was prepared to be very fond of him, and was
devoted to a friend of mine, who decidedly disliked him. In fact his
devotion was so great that I tried to persuade my friend to accept
him; but in vain. As I could not get over his hatred of myself,
I parted with him. .

The next I had was gentle and good-tempered with every one. The

144 GREAT SALMON-CRESTED COCKATOO.

Salmon-crests are not at all treacherous, and that is more than can be
said for Lemon-crests. If they hate you, they hate you; but if they
are good-tempered, they never think of biting. Any one might pet
my second bird. He used to be allowed to fly looge, and formed a
beautiful sight flymg at an enormous height in the air. He always
stayed out three days, and then came home to feed. He loved to
splash about in the wet boughs after a shower.

The third I had I bought cheap as a confirmed feather-picker. I
rather hoped to cure him; but finding I could not, parted with him
again. Perhaps while I am on the subject of feather-picking, I may
give a hint or two to amateurs. Feather-picking comes from two
causes. One is from improper conditions of life, either as to diet or
cleanliness. This is when the bird pulls out its feathers, and tears its
flesh. It is the most distressing kind to see, but much the most
curable. Restore the bird to health, and he will probably give up
the habit.

The other cause is ennwi. The bird is a restless active bird, and
he gets bored. He learns to pick his feathers by way of distraction.
You can only cure this kind by continually occupying his attention ;
and as this is next to impossible, it is not very likely that this kind
of feather-picking will be cured.

There is also a third trick Parrots have, and that is nibbling their
feathers. This is pure érick, just like a child’s biting its nails. You
can make the child understand it mustn’t, and you can tie up its
hands in gloves; but you can neither make the Parrot understand,
nor muffle its feathers. As with diseases, so with tricks: an ounce of
prevention is worth pounds of cure. See that a bird has plenty of
firewood to make matches of before it begins to pluck itself.

The Salmon-crest has with all his charms two or three drawbacks,
which prevent his being suited for cage life. His screams are more
than any one who is not stone deaf can endure, and I never knew
one which was quite broken of screaming. Then they have a very
strong smell, which renders them quite unfitted for a living room,
though they might do fora hall. Though they come from the Moluccas,
they appear to be very hardy, Their best place is certainly at liberty.
They are not destructive to trees like the Macaws, and make quite as
beautiful an object flying about. ‘Their price is unvarying. All dealers
charge £5 a piece for them.

END OF VOL. III.

B., FAWCETT, PRINTER AND ENGRAVER, DRIFFIELD.

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