Thr Brrcd/fif/ of IhiDNird's I'arralcrrts. ;',().") 



the di.spersal of M. I*aii\ m'I's <()llection I secured a i)eiTect 

 pair of Bai'iuird's so lliat I ai last po.s^essed two o. eac-h ; ex, 

 and had a ;,M)od piospcct of .sueces.sful breeding. Tiie lii'st 

 step was to catch up Mie cot-k Bauer's, who had dis,t,M-aceil 

 tiinioelf by tlie mutilation of my only Yellow -rump and a line 

 Mealy Rosella, wlio was just about to nest; in both cases lie 

 had bitten the upper mandililes of his victims clean o|] at I be 

 base, rendering it absolutely necessary to destroy tlie unfor- 

 tunate birds which were naturally quite unable to feed. Bauer's 

 Parrakeeto are terribly dangerous fighters and experts at in- 

 flicting this particular injury. 



As tlie cock Barnard's of the new pair appeared likely 

 to . come into breeding condition sooner than the odd ori". 1 

 determined, after the removal of the Bauer, to pair him to my 

 oUl hen who was still at liiierty; accordingly I let him out of 

 the aviary which he and his male had occupied; and inU'odu(,-od 

 the other in his place. Things did not, however, turn out as 

 I intended. The newly released Barnard spent his whole time 

 trying to get back to his original wife— for which one could 

 hardly blame him!— and completely ignored the other hen, 

 who, now that the Bauer was gone, showed a decided pre- 

 ference for an odd Yellow -nape which was also flying loo:-;e 

 in the garden. This was not at all what I wanted, so I took 

 the hen Barnard's out of the aviary and removed her out of 

 the sight and hearing of her too -faithful spouse. After that, 

 matters took a more promising turn. In a very short time 

 the cock had joined the old hen and was displaying to her, 

 to arouse her admiration and biting her, to inspire her with 

 respect— the invariable method of courtship followed by a 

 Plalycercus, whilst the Y'ellow-nape, finding that he was not 

 wanted, resigned himself once more to a solitary existence. 



After allowing a judicious interval to elapse in which 

 the pair at liberty had plenty of time to get used to each 

 other, I returned the second hen to the aviary. She was very 

 slow in getting friendly with the cock— partly, I think, because 

 she occasionally saw her first mate, and would have preferred 

 to go back to him if she had been allowed, but in the end 

 they seemed to take to one another rather better, and I gave 

 the cock his liberty. For a day or two he stayed well enough 

 and seemed on reasonably friendly terms with the other birds, 



