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worth, and can be passed over by those who know as much, or 

 more, than I do on tlie subject. 



It is a good many jears ago — somewhere about 1890 — since 

 I possessed the first pair of these Parrakeets, and I have 

 practically never T)eeu without them since. They are great 

 favourites of mine. 



The cock is strikingly handsome in his adult plumage, and 

 the hen decidedly pretty in her more sober attire ; and besides 

 the cock has a liveh' little song, hence, piobablj', the German 

 name " The Singing Parrakeet." 



With regard to the "adult plumage," I must mention that 

 the nest feathers, of the young cocks especially, are somewhat 

 lighter in tlie tints than the adult plumage, but the hens 

 change very little. The sexes are always distinguishable, even 

 when the birds are very young and the first few feathers 

 appear; this is an advantage, for there can never be any mis- 

 take as to the sexes as happens sometimes with other species. 



I have bred Redrnmps under various conditions. My first 

 pair had a moderate sized aviary to themselves; but my best 

 results have been in a box-cage — about 3ft. long, 2ft. wide and 

 2ft. high — wired at the front only with half-inch wire, and 

 covered with a piece of felt for privac}'. The cage is about 

 3ft. from the ground, and made watertight with felt nailed on 

 the top, l)ack and sides, and stands in a position so that it gets 

 the morning sun and until nearly two o'clock in the afternoon. 

 In this box-cage, which stands out in the garden all the year 

 round without any further protection from the cold, wet or 

 heat than mentioned above, I have had between fifty and sixty 

 young reared and sold. This is the result from several pairs, 

 and I find one pair does as well in the cage as another. 



The nest-boxes aie my own make, some Sin. long, Sin. 

 wide and izin. deep, anything about this size will do, as I do 

 not think Redrnmps are particular to an inch either way. In 

 the bottom of the nest-box at the back an ordinary wooden 

 bowl (similar to a cash bowl) about 6in. in diameter and 2|in. 

 deep is fixed, screwed, and the space round the bowl filled up 

 with cement or plaster. A bowl, or cavity of some kind is 

 necessary to keep the eggs from rolling about and thus get 



