2o8 The Cockateel at Liberty. 



Unfortunately they have no discrimination, and in my absence 

 they would be equally likely to follow any -stranger who 

 happened to pass by. When they were quite small, I put them 

 into a paddock, with the hen confined in a coop, as is the usual 

 custom with gamekeepers when rearing common pheasants. 

 This did not aiiswer with these birds at all, as they evidently 

 followed someone who was passing their coop on the way to 

 the house, and lost themselves in the shrubberies. I thought 

 myself lucky to find them again. One found its way upstairs 

 mto one of the bedrooms, and the last one found was heard 

 crying outside the kitchen door at ten o'clock at night. 



In a country park, or isolated grounds, they would be 

 a great ornament, and would do well, as they could look after 

 themselves with dogs and cats, and would run but little risk 

 from vermin other than foxes. However, one very rarely 



hears of them being kept this way, but Mons. Delacour tells me 

 that his birds do well under these conditions in France. 



According to Abbe David : — 



" The brown Crossopfilon. which is known by the name of Hoki in 

 " Pekin, is resident on some of the wooded parts of the mountains of 

 " PechiH, but for some years past it has become very rare, and it cannot 

 " be long before it completely disappears, partly on account of the constant 

 " persecution it is subjected to, and partly from the destruction of the 

 " woods which form its headquarters. It is an extremely gentle and 

 " sociable bird, living in large flocks, and subsisting chiefly on grain, 

 " buds, leaves, roots and insects. It seems well adapted for domestication, 

 " the more so as it is easily fed; but in captivity one must provide the 

 " shade of a park and the neighbourhood of a clear stream of water — that 

 " is, similar surroundings to those it is accustomed to in its wild state." 



The Cochafceel at Liberty. 



By the Marquis of Tavistock. 



In articles which I have written on parrakeet keeping I 

 liave always given Calopsittaciis novac-hollondiac a very bad 

 cliaracter as a non-stayer at liberty. I am not sure, however, 

 that I have not done the bird an injustice, and that my previous 

 failures have not been due to my making a very elementary 

 mistake — that of keeping the mate of the bird at liberty in a 

 place where it could not be easily seen and visited. 



