Notes on Rcd-sh'uiiiig I'arrakccts. 183 



beings. He has two calls — a deep, soft " Hor!"" and a loud, 

 harsh screech. 



At the end of last winter 1 received five more Red 

 Shining- Parrakeets out of six originally shipped. 1 thought 

 to myself that now I knew what to do and began to conjure 

 up rosy visions of young Red Shining and Red Shining at 

 hberty. How glorious they would look, and in their own 

 country they are reputed to be good stayers. Clearly the best 

 way to manage newly-imported Red Shining was to put them in 

 cages in a warm room, and allow them some fruit, but not too 

 nnich. However, " the best laid schemes of men and mice — " ; 

 in the first place, the birds were terribly shy. Whenever a 

 person entered the birdroom. they rushed into a corner of the 

 cage and tucked their heads under their breasts to shut out the 

 horrid sight. Then one died; post mortem revealed the old 

 enemy, chronic enteritis; a few weeks and another died; this time 

 aspergillosis; a few weeks more and a third died — chronic 

 enteritis again. This was awful; my rosy visions vanished, and 

 " We all go the same way home " seemed to be the programme 

 to be anticipated. The only crumb of comfort in tlie melan- 

 choly exodus lay in the fact that all three of the dead birds were 

 cocks. It was clear that they could not possibly do worse, 

 however I treated them, and as it was now May, my thoughts 

 turned to outdoors (about tnis time No. 4 was reported off its 

 food). It seemed useless to give such nervous birds complete 

 liberty, so I prepared a big, sunny, grass-grown aviary for their 

 reception, filling the dark part of the shelter with branches. 

 I thought they would probably spend all their time sulking on 

 the ground in the corner, but although they retreated hastil.v 

 in.to the shelter they kept to the branches. Later, when every- 

 thing" was quiet, I saw them exploring the flight, obviously 

 hoping to find a way to complete freedom, but not wholly 

 dissatisfied with their surroundings. They also began to utter 

 tlieir call — a short, loud cry, something between a croak and a 

 squawk. From that day to this they have never " looked back ;" 

 they are still very nervous and retreat hurriedly into the furthest 

 corner of the shelter, if closely approached, but they will tolerate 

 tlie sight of human beings up to within 20 yards. In July I was 

 sm-prised to see the smaller bird feed the other, so I am in 

 hopes that I have a true pair, especially as the bird that was fed 



