20 THE SPEAKING PARROTS. 



Cage Birds," vol. iv. (Manual for the Management, Training, 

 and Breeding of Cage Birds), I must here emphatically repeat, 

 for it is especially of consequence for those parrots which are 

 kept as speakers. 



Even fully acclimatised, well trained, and excellent speakers, 

 get out of sorts, excited, and even ill, if obliged to change 

 the habitation, and if the new one is not perfectly satisfactory. 

 A newly-acquired parrot, again, needs a much longer time 

 to settle down, and is much more difficult to tame and teach, 

 if not provided from the commencement with a thoroughly 

 comfortable cage. 



A good parrot cage should fulfil the following require- 

 ments : 1. It must afford abundant space for the bird to 

 have the necessary motion (this will be discussed more fully 

 later on). 2. The best shape is a simple square, slightly 

 vaulted at the top, without any projections, curves, flourishes, 

 or such like decorations. 3. The cage for every parrot, but 

 especially for every large parrot, should be entirely of metal. 



The most ordinary form of cage for single speakers is the 

 simple square, not even vaulted at the top, and only slightly 

 rounded at the sides, made of strong tinned iron wire ; mostly 

 with wooden socles, and over the floor, at about an equal level 

 with the socle, a grating also of strong wire. This cage has 

 many defects. First, it is, as a rule, too small ; then the food 

 and drinking vessels must be hooked inside, which, in the case 

 of a parrot given to biting, is very dangerous ; finally, the wire 

 grating and socle, together with the drawers (both the latter 

 being usually of wood), are worse than useless. The " Ornis " 

 Society of Bird Fanciers, in Berlin, had cages made for the 

 accommodation of the parrots at its exhibition, which I may 

 recommend as model cages (Fig. 1). Such a cage gives 

 abundant room for movement, for it is 2^ft. high, and 

 always 17in. in length and breadth for the Grey Parrots, 

 the Amazons, Cockatoos, and all parrots of similar size ; 

 while for the larger species, up to the Macaws, it must 

 naturally be increased proportionately in size ; and for the 

 smaller down to the Brotogerys and Undulated Parrakeets, 

 it must be made smaller. The upper part is made of strong 

 tinned wire, Jin. in diameter, and l^in. apart. The socle, 

 drawers, and floor, are made of tinned iron plate ; the latter 

 may consist, for greater convenience in cleaning, of a wire 

 grating. The above-mentioned wire grating over the floor is 



