Some Notes on Keeping Parrakeets. 87 



made to winter tlieni out of doors, tlie aviary shelter should be 

 provided with a door so tliat the birds can be shut in at night 

 and during- bad weather. \'oung- birds should also be shut up 

 at night during their hrst moult, even though this usually 

 takes place in the sunuuer. 



When turned into a new aviary. Hooded Parrakeets 

 may elect to roost clinging to the wire netting in the most 

 draughty and exposed situations, and as a result may be picked 

 u]) dead the following morning from inflannuation of the lungs. 

 To guard against this distressing habit it is advisable to shut 

 them into their shelter for the first few days, providing a snug" 

 roosting place close under the roof. .Special shelter may also 

 be arranged in the outside flight, and be sure and make a point 

 of seeing where the birds go to bed the first few nights, if you 

 would avoid disaster. 



With the exception of the Emu, tlie Hooded Parrakeet 

 is the most unaccommolating of Australian birds in the matter 

 of adjusting itself to our seasons. They wiU go to nest in 

 ( )ctober, and if you let tliem do so out-of-doors, nine out of ten 

 hens will die egg-bound ;the tenth will probably die of pneti- 

 monia when she begins to roost outside the nest as her family 

 get big, e^-en if she survives, the family are likely to succumb to 

 the November frosts and fogs. If, on the other hand, you take 

 the bird into a heated room, they will receive a check after 

 living in the fresh air and sunshine, and lay nothing but clear 

 eggs or refuse to lay at all. The best plan is to be patient, 

 hardening your heart, and removing the nest-boxes in autumn 

 when the cock is beginning to feed his mate, and leaving them 

 for the birds to use only between April 15th and September ist. 

 In the end, if you are lucky, you will get a nest in early May or 

 late August. Young birds in first plumage can hardly be sexed 

 with certainty, though the cocks are always a shade bluer on 

 cheeks or breast. Adult plumage is assumed at the first moult 

 without the previous appearance of any stray black, yellow or 

 blue feathers comparable to the red feathers which begin to 

 show on a young Pennant's back during his first winter. 



Among a lot of newly imported young Hooded it is 

 common to see some -.vhich, while apparently healthy or in 



