128 The Blue-tumped Parrot. 



likely injurious, for in a few weeks the little Parrot was ill, 

 and soon afterwards it died. T went to the Zoo to see if the 

 female still survived, l)ut, failing- to find it there, I eoncluded 

 that it also had died. 



I much regretted the loss of this 1)ird and for a long 

 time kept a close watch on Parrot arrivals, both here and 

 on the Continent, in the hope of obtaining another example, 

 Tn 1910 a dealer in the north of England wrote to say he 

 had a dwarf Parrot and described its size and colours. I 

 took this bird to l)e an adult hen Rlue-runi]-), liut as ne [ixed 

 the price at ten pounds T had to leave it. T liad no trace 

 of further arrivals till DecemT>er, 1911, when T obtaine(' 

 my present pair. Four young birds were then imported by 

 Mr. Hamlyn, \vho wrote to say he had two pairs of Pigmy- 

 Parrots. On seeing the liirds I recognised the Blue-rumped 

 Parrots at once, although they were all out of colour. They 

 were chiefly a mixture of grey and sage green, and the beaks 

 were horn colour, l)ut the b'ue on the bick, the i^ed patches 

 under the wings, and the bordered wing feathers were there. 

 All four were in perfect henltb and plnma^e. and two of 

 them had decidedly broader heads than the other two, which 

 seemed to indicate that they were males, and this supposition 

 turned out to be correct. I had doubts at first, however, be- 

 cause one of these males had on its neck some tiny patches 

 of red-brown which is seen in the adult hen, and the other 

 male had a few specks of the same colour on its head. T 

 retained one pair, and the O'her pair was promptly secured 

 for the Zoo. 



T put my pair in a ca'^e in a warm aviary and was 

 glad to see that thov partook freely of all the usual seeds 

 such as canary, milh^t, jxiddy rice, wheat, oats, hemp and 

 monkey nuts. Tliey would also oat dried fg^ and prunes, and 

 later on would eagerly take such ripe fruit as plums, pears, 

 cherries, and bananas. T was i-ather sui'prised at this as the 

 Blue-rumped Parrots mentioned by Dr. Euss took "chiefly 

 hemp, of 'canary seed, millet, and cooked rice only a few grains. 

 while fruit they never touched." 



Tn May. 1912, my hen moulted into adult plumage, 

 but the male did not do so till July. This year they have 

 again moulted and they seem to have grown considerably in 



