136 Birds I Have Kept. 



I have never lost a Diamond Sparrow except from egg- 

 bincling, a complication, however, to which it is not nearly 

 so subject as many other foreign birds. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



THE RED-FACED LOVE-BIRD. 



THIS miniature Parrot measures some five inches in total 

 length, nearly two of which belong to the tail: it is a 

 well-known and favourite bird with amateurs, who indulge 

 in much harmless sentimentality over its constancy to and 

 affection for its mate, which, as the supposed ''pair" are very 

 frequently of the same sex, is, I need scarcely say, no more 

 than a popular, if pleasing, error; for one of these birds will 

 live quite as well without a companion as with one, and does 

 not seem in the least to mourn for the loss of a friend, much 

 less die of grief unless a substitute for the departed is quickly 

 found. 



Agapornis imUaria, in German der JJnzertrennliche, or the 

 inseparable, which is also its Erench name V Inseparable, is a 

 bright green bird, with a red mask extending round the beak 

 to a varying depth according to the age of the specimen; it 

 is a native of Abyssinia, and according to my experience not 

 a long liver in this country, even when kept during the 

 winter in a well -warmed conservatory. Other aviarists, how- 

 ever, have a different tale to tell concerning the Red-faced 

 Love-bird, one in particular insinuating that he has even 

 bred it in his bird-room, which I, in common with Dr. Russ 

 and Mr. Wiener, am reluctantly compelled to doubt. 



The female can be readily distinguished from the male Red- 

 face, not by the extent or intensity of colour of her rubicund 

 mask, which some writers tell us is the differentiating mark 



