;>,04 The Breeding of Bar-nard's Parrakeets. 



I have often wondered what has become of them and what 

 they look like now that they are in full plumage. 



During the autumn of the same year, I succeeded in 

 obtaining a new oock Barnard's and two hens. With the hens 

 I was unlucky, the best one contracting a fata,l chill after 

 she had been only a few days in my possession. The other 

 met with an accident ,some weeks later; she was not a great 

 loss from a breeding point of view, as she was an old bird 

 and suffered from chronic lameness; but she was very tame 

 and gentle— a rare quality in a Platycercus — and on that ac- 

 couui. 1 wish 1 could have kept her longer. The cock was 

 also quite tame and a splendid bird into the bargain, but his 

 best friend could not have described him as being of an 

 engaging disposition; in fact it was his invariable custom 

 to fly at the face of anyone who went near him and a^ttempt 

 to intlict a severe bite, and no amount (Si coaxing ever induced 

 him to moderate his hostility in the slightest degree. He 

 was entirely indifferent to the society of other Parrakeets, and 

 ignored the two females of his species above mentioned. After 

 he had spent a few weeks in an outdoor aviary, I gave him 

 complete freedom, hoping that it would improve his temper. 

 He stayed well and Hew about the garden displaying his rain- 

 bow colour while his melodious whistle was all in keeping with 

 the beauty of his appearance. But his character, alas! re- 

 mained unchanged, and when finally he insisted on establishing 

 himself at the lodge gates and had nearly amputated the lodge - 

 keeper's finger and the gardener's nose, I reluctantly de- 

 cided that the time had come when we must part. If he 

 is still alive, I hope his owner loves him and is loved in 

 return— but I fear it is unlikely. Brilliant, though tasteful 

 in colour and markings, inoffensive if not actually attractive 

 in voice, the Platyeercl are, with rare exceptions, destitute 

 of those affectionate and amiable qualities which are the saving 

 grace of the destructive, shrieking Cockatoos and Amazons, and 

 the redeeming virtue of the gaudy and even more vociferous 

 Macaws . 



Vol some weeks I was again without a cock Barnard's, 

 but eventually I obtained a nice acclimatized bird from a 

 gentlemai) who sent me at the same time, a very good Blue- 

 bonnet and the finest Pennant's I have ever seen. Later, at 



