The Brccdiin) (if Hdiintrd's I'm rakeets. "Jo;^ 



out tiKiii tho:;e vviiich arc newly imported or have been kept in 

 a\iarie^. Tlie.y seem le;-;s iiieliiied to stray aiul are usually 

 mure (uleraiil ol the preseuee of human beings. 



Tlie liauer's showed i'roiu the lirst a preference for the 

 Barnard's sociely, evidently considering tliem more nearly akin 

 to himself than any of tlie C'tlier i'lalijcrrcuie Pari-akects which 

 occupied the same encdosure. IJy October he and tlie hen 

 Carnard'o had moulted and iluwn out into the garden, where 

 their i'riendohip continued, and in February it had evidently 

 ripened into something warmer, as he was feeding her con- 

 stantly a sure sign that a I'arrakeet has accepted the lady 

 of his choice for better, oj' worse. About the middle of tlie 

 mouth the Barnard's disappeared entirely, and l)y carefully 

 watching her mate we found that he was visiting- a small round 

 hole in the trunk of a beech tree, in which she had evidently 

 made her nest. At the end of about 9 weeks he ceased to 

 visit the hole, and as we saw nothing of either the hen or 

 young, we began to feel rather anxious. However, towards 

 the end of May, two fine young hybrids appeared in the 

 garden, to be quickly followed by two more. They were con- 

 siderably greener about the head than their father, but much 

 darker than their mother. The red frontal band (which i?, 

 of course, absent in a true Bauer), was, as I have already 

 said, very dull in colour, and hardly visible at a distance. 



The hen Barnard's I did not sec, myself, until the begin- 

 ning of August, but I heard that she visited the garden once 

 or twice at the end of July. Her regular appearance was 

 quickly followed by the arrival of three more young — evidently 

 a second brood, whose birthplace we had not discovered. 

 These soon became independent of their parents— who were 

 now in full moult — and joined their elder brothers and sisters; 

 but the whole flock were not often together, five being the 

 largest iiuml)er to be seen, as a rule, at one time. 



By the beginning of winter the young birds had grown 

 considerably and were much brighter in colour than they had 

 been on first leaving the nest; in fact they gave every promise 

 of becoming extremely handsome, but as they were inclined to 

 quarrel with the other Parrakeets, and as I am, moreover, not 

 very fond of hybrids, I caught them up and disposed of them. 



