i68 



of pecking iiiy hand, will drop the seed twenty times. He is 

 as spiteful as a monkey and will pursue all other birds he 

 happens to dislike round and round the room, though, curious 

 to relate, he loves foreign birds and sings to them, and flirts 

 before the bars for all he is worth. I have put another Gold- 

 finch with him, and after a battle or two he seemed to find out 

 that two can play the same game, and now he is very peaceful, 

 but the least little thing that upsets him makes him at once 

 turn on the other inmate and vent his anger on his unoffend- 

 ing head. E. Warren Vernon. 



A SMALL PARRAKEET AVIARY. 



Sir, — I have in my old fashioned kitchen garden a small 

 aviary. It was originally intended for an apiary, l)ut I substi- 

 tuted a V for the P and birds for bees, puttitig in one pair of 

 Cockateels, one pair of Blue-winged Parrakeets, and two or 

 three pairs of Budgerigars. The flight is backed by a South 

 wall and is only 12 feet by 3 feet ; beyond this, boxed off, 

 there is a small nesting room of the same width and 4 feet long. 

 There is no artificial heat whatever, but through this com- 

 partment the birds can go if they wish to a more sheltered 

 place. Being however rather dark they do not go unless they 

 are made to do so in very cold weather. 



The Budgerigars and Love-birds have bred, the former 



frequently, but the Cockateels have never succeeded till this year, 



though they have had as many as fifteen eggs. I attribute the 



success this year to my having given them a small barrel instead 



of a flat box to lay in, as this enabled them to keep the eggs 



together. I have now three fine young birds (a fourth having 



unfortunately fallen out of the nest when young), and these are 



advertised in the " Bird Market." While they were breeding I 



continued to feed the parent birds just the same as before, 



namely, on canary and millet, oats, and fresh green food, and 



they seemed to require nothing further. It was interesting to 



notice how the parents took it in turns to stay with the young 



ones and keep them warm. 



M. L. Hur.TON. 



