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lived in a large, aviary in company with Rosalias and 

 Pennants, and all went well for a time ; but one morn- 

 ing my coachman, who helps me in my aviaries, came 

 to me in haste, saying " Them Rosellas and that there 

 Blue Bonnet are fighting something awful." I rushed 

 down to find the hen Rosella literally scalped and 

 lying exhausted in a corner of the aviary, while the 

 Blue Bonnet was making a great noise on a branch 

 close by, bobbing its silly head up and down and about 

 to complete its murderous work, but I promptly in- 

 terfered and transferred it elsewhere. Subsequently I 

 bought a pair of these birds, but kept them in an 

 aviary by themselves. Even then the cock tried to 

 fight any bird which alighted on the wire partitions 

 between its aviary and those on either side, and there 

 were many skirmishes and much noise, until my 

 Brown's on the one side and Pennants and Yellow 

 Collars on the other learnt that their toes might be 

 severely hurt if the}^ went within reach of the Blue 

 Bonnets. A new Parrakeet in an adjoining aviary was 

 always greeted with screams of defiance, much bob- 

 bing of heads and spreading of tails. 



My Brown's Parrakeets have been in my possession 

 since 1903, and have a large aviary to themselves, 

 supplied with nest boxes, but no eggs have been laid 

 and the two birds have shown no signs of pairing. 

 The larger and brighter-coloured of the two, which I 

 believe to be the cock, spends much of his time, in the 

 spring of each year, in one or other of the nest-boxes, 

 and varies the performance by chasing the other about 

 the aviary, but the lady — if lady she be — does not res- 

 pond to his rather savage advances, and darts away as 

 he darts after her. They are exceedingly handsome 



