Some Notes on Keeping Parrakeets. 163 



ventilators, which sooner or later bring-s every one to an 

 untimely end. The species is quite hardy in an outdoor aviary, 

 but rather subject to chills in a birdroom. Hens lack the black 

 mantle, and have much less red on the wing; young- birds 

 resemble the female until the first complete moult. Some 

 aviculturists maintain that male plumage is not assumed for 

 several years, but this is, I consider, quite abnormal, and young 

 males will usually show their sex within a few months of their 

 importation. 



Lorikeets (Trichoglossus). 



Of the brush-tongued parrots I have had comparatively 

 little experience, and only in recent years have been able to give 

 them a food on which they thrive. They stand cold well when 

 acclimatised, l)ut like a nest-box to roost in. They get on well 

 with their own and nearly allied species, though breeding pairs 

 may have to be separated while nesting; but with all other birds 

 (with the exception of very small ones) they are most 

 spiteful and are able to overpower those many times larger 

 than themselves. They lay at all seasons of the year, but are 

 not troubled with egg-binding. Not infrequently they eat 

 their own eggs, but the vice is not always persisted in. Being 

 active and dirty birds they are not suited to cage life, but are 

 content with quite a small aviary, while enjoying a large one. 

 The sexes are alike, but the hen has a slightly smaller, more 

 rounded, and effeminate head. On first leaving the nest the 

 young have dark beaks, but their colours are almost as brilliant 

 as those of the adult. Lorikeets are easily tamed and do well 

 at liberty when they have learned to regard their owner as a 

 friend. Wild birds are rather bad stayers, and are not to be 

 depended on if given their freedom. 



Lorikeets should be plentifully supplied with sweet 

 grapes, of which they are extremely fond. 



TAXYGNATHUS PARRAKEETS. 



These large birds are seen to best advantage in an 

 aviary, as. when kept in cages, they are dull and stolid and often 

 remain in bad plumage. They do rather an undesirable amount 

 of execution on the perches with their powerful beaks, but 



