197 



PARROTS AND PARRAKEETS. 



By Dr. C. vS. Simpson. 



(Contimied from page i']6) . 



The Smai,!, vSHORT-TAir.KD Parrots. {Agapomis, 

 Pslttaciila, Loricnlus). — The last group of vShort-tailed 

 Parrots we have to consider are the small parrots called 

 Lovebirds {Agapomis). and with them we may con- 

 veniently take the Passerine Parrot [Psittacula), and the 

 Hanging Parrots {Loricuhis), bearing in mind, however, 

 that the latter, though frequently called Lovebirds, are 

 wrongly so termed, and that the name should properly 

 be restricted to the members of the genus Agapomis. 

 Seven species of this genus are known, aird they inhabit 

 the Western and South -Western portions of Africa, 

 Abyssinia, and Madagascar. Three species are regularly 

 imported: the Grey-headed or Madagascar, tlie Red- 

 faced, and the Peach-faced Lovebirds. All of these are 

 easily kept on millet and canary seed. They are dull, 

 listless, and not very interesting when kept in cages, but 

 in an aviary they are active enongh. The Gre\'-headed 

 and Peach-faced will breed readily in confinement, but 

 the Red-faced has not hitherto been known to do so in 

 this country, nor I believe in Pvurope. Little appears to 

 be known of the nesting habits of the Lovebirds in a 

 state of nature, but in captivity they nest in hollow logs 

 or cocoa nut husks, and the hen lines the cavity with 

 pieces of straw and similar materials, which she conveys 

 to the nest by inserting them among the feathers of her 

 back. This habit is, as far as I am aware, confined to 

 the true Lovebirds. The sexes of the Peach-faced Love- 

 bird are similar, and this constitutes a practical difficulty 

 in breeding them. The male Madagascar is distinguished 

 from his mate at a glance by his grey head. The sexes 

 are rather more difficult to distinguish in the Red-faced 

 species, but the face has a decidedly more orange tint in 

 the hen, and the under wing coverts, which are black in 

 the male, are green in the hen. 



