158 Birds I Have Kept. 



than above: the throat is black, and a ring, partly of the 

 same colour, and partly rose, surrounds the neck; whence some 

 of the names by which it is known: its scientific designation 

 is JPsittaeus or PalcBornis torquatus, the French call it la 

 Perruclie a collier rose, but the Germans have given it the 

 name of der Jcleine Alexander Sittich. 



This bird measures about twenty inches in total length, ten 

 of which belong to the tail: the ^^ Gejiederte WelV^ for 1873 

 contains an account of the successful endeavours of a pair of 

 these birds belonging to Herr Otto Wiegand, to rear a brood 

 of their own. 



Some of the E-ing-necked Parrakeets learn to speak very 

 freely and distinctly, while others are not at all docile, and 

 can scarcely say a word. 



The staple diet is hemp and canary seed; milk and meat 

 cause irritation of the skin, in order to allay which the un- 

 happy bird plucks out its feathers until it leaves itself quite 

 bare. 



It is not a great drinker, but it is, nevertheless, cruel to 

 keep the poor creatures without water, under which circum- 

 stances their thirst compels them to eat a great deal more 

 '•'sop" than they can digest: still, the notion has taken a 

 firm hold on the public mind, that Parrots require nothing 

 to drink; so firm, indeed, that the authorities of the London 

 Zoological Gardens deprive many of the Parrots under their 

 care of water, and maintain that this is the proper course to 

 adopt towards them: in reply to which I would merely re- 

 quest the visitor at the ^'Zoo" to look at the labels on the 

 cages in the Parrot House, and, if I am not very grievously 

 mistaken, I think he will find the greater part of them to 

 be of ominously recent date. 



My Ring-neck was very fond of bathing, and drank mo- 

 derately: maize and oats may be given occasionally by way 

 of a change. 



