10 Pscphotus Parrakccts at Liberty. 



\ivccl. A second pair 1 lunu'd (nil were not so torlunatc, 

 as tlu' hen killed herself 1)> llyini; aL;ain^l a window, and her 

 mate, an exceptionally lin.' Ijird. went away before we were 

 able to catch him up or pro\ ide him with another wife. "A 

 few days before his departure I witnessed a rather amusing 

 little scene at one of the fcediiig-trays. All three Rcd-rumns 

 were sitting in a tree together and. after a time the hen ilew 

 down to iK-gin her meal, leaving her husband ask'cp abo\e 

 her. A moment afterwards she was joined by the odd co.k, 

 who was just beginning to think of making himself agrecab'e 

 when Xo. i woke up, realised the situation, and hastily evic- 

 ted his rival. Having driven him well away, he returned to 

 to his wife, displayed to and then fed her; the amusing par- 

 was that he had been too lazy to bestow either of these little 

 attentions upon her, since the early days of their courtship some 

 months before ; neither did he repeat them till some months la.er 

 when she was about to nest. It was clear that he was only urged 

 to these demonstrations of regard by the sudden fear that if 

 he did not make himself extra nice to her, the lady's ati'ec- 

 tions might be bestowed elsewhere! How faithfully the follies 

 and weaknesses of mankind are son:etimes reproduced in the 

 bird creation ! 



In April the hen Red-rump established herself in a 

 small hole in the branch of one of a clump of lime trees, 

 which stood by themselves on the top of a hill. I expected 

 the usual fiasco, but this time my fears were not realised, 

 for although a Little Owl constanth- visited the clump, be 

 kindly refrained from repeating the crimes of his 

 brethren. 



At first the cock Red-rump came to feed alone, but after 

 five weeks his mate began to accompany hmi more and more 

 and more frequently as the family had less need of brooding. 

 Then came a time (I suppose the young had just left the 

 nest) when the old birds behaved in rather a curious way, 

 coming and going independently of each other, but remaining 

 on the best of terms on the few occasions when they liap- 

 pcned to meet. After about ten days of this, two fine young- 

 sters were seen following their parents. Very soon afterwards 

 the hen went to nest a second time in the suane hole and 



