200 



hatched. The eggs are pure white. Both sexes incubate by 



turns. 



Karly in June young had evidently hatched again, as the 



old birds were constantly visiting the soft food and then the nest. 



On June 20th I ventured to put my finger into the entrance of 



the husk and felt fully feathered young scramble to the back of 



the nest. On June 26th, three young ones were out of the nest 



flying strongly, a male and two females, another female I found 



dead on the floor. They were independent of their parents about 



three weeks after leaving the nest. 



On August iotii three young ones came out of another 

 nest built in a flower-pot, again a male and two females. These 

 hatched on July 20th, so that they were exactly three weeks old 

 when they left the nest. 



Upon leaving the nest, the young ones are but little inferior 

 in size to their parents, and the sex is at once apparent, the 

 young male having a red head, slightly paler than that of his 

 father. Their beaks are dark. As the old birds commence to 

 build another nest before the young are able to look after them- 

 selves, I have not been able to make a close comparison, but the 

 young females appear to resemble their mother in the spangling 

 of their breasts, less than the young males resemble their 

 father. These markings are certainly less distinct in the young 

 females than in the males, while between the two adults there is 

 not so great a difference. 



The young have been reared almost entirely on soft-food 

 with perhaps a little seed. I have never seen the parents 

 anxious to catch insects. Gentles have always been available, 

 and a few have been eaten occasionally, but the birds do not 

 appear to be at all fond of them. 



The male is by far the better feeder, and after the young 

 have left the nest they usually look to him for their food. The 

 voices of the young when being fed are remarkably coarse. 



At the present time (September 17th) there is another nest 

 of young ones in the flower-pot where the second brood was 

 reared. The old birds merely added a few feathers to the lining 

 before the eggs were laid. 



