228 



of the Dodo or has the march of civilization driven 

 them from their old and accessible haunts ? 



With Rosellas I have not been fortunate. Al- 

 though several nests full of young have been hatched, 

 none have attained even the modest age of six months. 

 At the beginning of this year I had two pairs of Red 

 Rosellas in the same aviary. The stronger of the two 

 cocks monopolized both hens and chased the other 

 cock incessantly. I therefore transferred one pair to 

 another aviary in which was a solitary Yellow Collar 

 sold to me as a cock. Soon I noticed the cock Rosella 

 feeding not only his lawful wife but the Yellow Collar 

 as well. The hen Rosella took possession of a nest- 

 box, the Yellow Collar of another and both commenced 

 laying. Alas for that "cock" Yellow Collar! The 

 Rosella laid six eggs and began to sit, but the Yellow 

 Collar broke her eggs through dropping them on the 

 aviary floor. One morning there was disaster. All 

 the Rosellas' eggs were found broken in the nest and 

 I can only conclude that the Yellow Collar was the 

 culprit. The Rosella soon laid again, but died egg- 

 bound with the third egg. The Yellow Collar had at 

 last managed to deposit two eggs in her nest-box on 

 which she sat for a week ; she then deserted them and 

 on breaking them I found one fertile and the other 

 clear. The other pair of Rosellas hatched three 

 young, of which one only left the nest, and this bird 

 died three weeks later. 



I have described some of my experiences with 

 Pennants in a previous article in Bird Notes (see page 

 251 of the 1905-6 Vol.) In 1905 the same pair reared 

 three more young, which are now in a lady's aviary in 

 the New Forest and doing well. 



