6.4 Nuics ON a Fezc U'ell-kiiotvii Species. 



jerky, and it insisted upon sleeping, hanging from the roof of 

 its cage. However, as it seemed otherwise quite fit, I bought 

 \ good cock for it, and turned them both into a karge unuse 1 

 ;hicken-house, witli an outside run, about kist October. Tlie 

 cock refused to show the hen the respect due to her as his wife, 

 and treated her as a ratlier tiresome lunatic-at-Large ! 



There they lived until tlie end of January, when the hen 

 died suddenly of a fit (that, I think, explains the 30s.). Rut 

 I should be interested to know the explanation of this : One 

 morning in November I found the iien minus her tail; every 

 feather was bitten off to tiie root and lying on the ground, and, 

 from that day till the day she died, although the rest of her body 

 was perfectly feathered, she never let a single tail feather grow. 



I am now on the look out for a good hen, as the cock 

 is an extremely line bird and will feed out of my hand, and T 

 intend to try breeding them. 



I have also got a pair of Redrumps (Fscphoius haema- 

 toiiotus), which are incubating and due to natch ofT in about a 

 week's time. The cock is bntish bred, the hen imported. 



The cock was very ill in Ts^ovember with, I think, enteritis, 

 anyway I didn't think he would live; however, he was cured by 

 glycerine mixed with a very little salicylic acid, and, by being- 

 kept in a warm room, he is now in great form and takes his 

 wife down to have a bath immediately she leaves the nest, but 

 as far as I can see he never does any sitting himself. In the 

 same aviary are a small flock of Budgerigars (McJopsittacus 

 uiidulatus), which have begun breeding, but which are shortly 

 going into an aA'iary by themselves. 



Also, in a large cage a pair of Diamond Sparrows 

 {Sti\i^anoplcHra i^nttiata): and indoors a hen Senegal Parrot 

 [Pococcpholus sc)ic gains), which is extraordinarily tame and a 

 reallv excellent talker. She is >->ntirely devoid of fear, as I got 

 her about six years ago as a nestling, and had to be fed on 

 boiled maize. I will not go into further details about her, 

 because I always think a minute account of someone else's pet 

 ])arrot is so boring for other people! 



That, I think, completes my list at present. I try to keep 

 as much to hardy Australian birds as possible, because if, as I 

 do, one has to go to London every day, one really only sees 

 much of them on Saturdays and Sundays, and it is nardly wortu 

 while keeping delicate soft food eaters. 



