12 Psc pilot us Parrakects. at Liberty. 



l)i)tli li.Li^ and (.lit'd a short tiiiic lalc-r. He piovctl to be 

 •iUtTcriiiL; from ccrchal lu-nioi rliaL;c. < )](1 writers tell us that 

 P. multicolor is so suhj^'ct lo this disease that ii is almost 

 useles; to attL'iiip; to keep it. 1 <;'nainly uouitl not endorse 

 this statement, as I lia\c liad (|iiite a h)t of .Many-colours at 

 ditferent times, and ha\ f only lost two fro.n the aiiinciit in 

 (|Uestion. Still, it is ratlier strange that both of th.'se should 

 ha\" sueeumbed when (IxinL; at complete liberty \ 'I'here is 

 another disease to which .Man\-colotir> are dist;<.'^sin_:;"ly l.able, 

 \dz. : septic fc\'€r ; they sometimes contract it in the most 

 unexpected fashion. 



After my failure witli biids at liberty I put a pair 

 of Many-colours into a h\'^. c lean, new aviary, of wliich they 

 were the first and only occuixints. They did well f(tr some 

 weeks; then the cock died suddenly of septic fever — no other 

 birds were lost at the time. I got another cock and tried 

 the pair in a small indoor a\"iary kepi: scruj)ulously clean; 

 again septic fever carried off the male bird, but the lien 

 strangely enough sur\ived. 



IIooDKD l-'.ARK.^KKKr.^ {P. IcucullaiusJ (llss'/nTs. I 

 ha\e had for .several years. They are a little delicate on 

 first arri\al and in-ed to be kept warm, and free from 

 draughts and sudd/n changes of temjierature. Among a lot 

 of nevvly-inti)orted young birds there arc generally a certain 

 proportion tuiable to ily well: these it is almost useless to 

 buy, e\en though they are plum|) and lively. 'I'he long 

 journe) and the hardships they ha\ e undergone seem to lunc 

 fatally injured their \itality, and, though they may li\e for a 

 year or moje, they will never i)ei ome good birds, and will 

 probably end by becoming deplorable objects, with scarcely 

 a feather on them -not because they pluck their plumage, but 

 because iht y ha\ e not strength to renew it during the process 

 of tliC' moult. IJoodetl Parrakeets seldom suffer from disease, 

 bill tlu- hens are e.xceedingly liable to become egg-bound, the 

 danger being increased by the persistency with which they 

 cling to the Australian breeding season — October. Not one 

 hen Hooded in ten can successfully lay her full clutch at a 

 tcjnperalure below 60 degrees — anyhow in captivity — and the 

 dangei of egg-binding is not,, in my experience, materially 



