260 



£be Sreeomc* of the Quaker iPaiTafceet. 



{Myopsittacus monachus). 

 By John Cheetham. 



This interesting species, one of the few of the nest-building 

 parrots, enjoys quite a number of popular or vernacular cogno- 

 mens, as follows: — Monte- Video Parrakeet — Monk Parrakeet — 

 and Grey-breasted Parrakeet, in addition to. the one at head of 

 these notes. 



I first made the acquaintance of this species in early March. 

 They settled down at once, and actually began to build by the 

 end of April, choosing a large barrel in which to construct their 

 nest; the nest was a huge affair, constructed entirely of straight 

 twigs, mostly cut off the branches in the aviary by themselves. 

 Both sexes took part in the building operations, carrying all 

 material in their beaks. Outside the barrel they erected a sort of 

 vestibule or porch of twigs, attaching them to the wire netting 

 and making the whole construction very tidy. On May the 15th, 

 one egg was in the nest, of the same colour, size, and shape as 

 those of the common Ring Dove. Four eggs formed the clutch, 

 one egg being laid each day till the clutch was complete. Incu- 

 bation commenced with the first egg and during this period they 

 were very cross and noisy when the nest was approached, but 

 although a great number of people came to see the nest, they 

 neither deserted their eggs nor permitted them to go cold. 



The first youngster was hatched on June 12th, thus making 

 the period of incubation in this instance 31 days. Three young 

 were hatched, of which two were fully reared, one dying just 

 after leaving the nest and one egg proving infertile. They left 

 the nest about six weeks after hatching, being then fully feathered 

 and exactly like their parents, but a little smaller. The infertile 

 egg was kept in the nest during the whole period. 



The young were reared on dry seed alone, the parent birds 

 leaving the scalded seed, which I provided for them as soon as the 

 young were hatched, severely alone. It was very interesting to 

 notice that, as the young grew, they enlarged their home by pull- 

 ing the nest to pieces bit by bit, till eventually the nest dis- 



