166 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



I found tliey had eaten a lot of white-lead putty, but 

 they were none the worse for it. I now returned them 

 to their cage, and some time later disposed of them to 

 some one who admired them. Since then I think I 

 have seen them on one or two occasions at the Crystal 

 Palace. 



Tile Quaker Parrakeet is rather dainty, always eat- 

 ing its favourite seeds first; it begins with sunflower 

 seed, then hemp, thirdly canary, fourthly millet, and 

 lastly oats ; maize it simply throws out untouched ; it 

 shakes its head at acid fruits, but is fond of stale 

 bread and raw carrot. 



This is one of the most freely imported of the Parra- 

 keets, and, consequently, is never expensive. It first 

 reached the Zoological Gardens of London in 1859, and 

 since that date some dozens of specimens have been 

 added to that collection. Mr. Seth-Smith recom- 

 mends as food for this bird (" Parrakeets," p. 70) : 

 " Canary, millet, and hemp seed, oats, sunflower seed, 

 and other small corn, should form the staple diet of 

 these Parrakeets in captivity ; and fruit of all kinds 

 should be added in season." I should add — provided 

 that acid fruit is not offered, because these birds cer- 

 tainly like their fruit sweet. 



LiNKOL.^TED P.!.RR-\KEET [Bolhorli i/nchus Uneolalus). 



Dull green, with black edges to the feathers, but 

 those of the rump and upper tail-coverts, median and 

 greater wing-coverts with black spots at the tips ; 

 lesser upper wing-coverts black ; bastard wing blackish ; 

 primary coverts black, with green edges ; front edge 

 of wing yellowish-green ; first primai-y black, the others 

 with black inner webs ; tail black in the centre ; head 

 brighter green than the back ; forehead, sides of head, 

 and middle of under surface of body yellowish-green ; 

 wing below black, with the inner webs of the flights 

 bluish-green ; tail below bluish-green ; beak horn- 

 yellowish-white ; feet flesh-coloured. Female smaller, 

 with less strongly spotted rump and all the black edges 

 to the feathers narrower; the tail wholly green; the 

 beak hardly differs in form. Hab., Southern Mexico 

 and A'eragua ; possibly Venezuela. 



Mr. Salvin says '(The Ibis, 1871, p. 94) : " Mr. 

 Godman and I discovered a small flock in the Volcan 

 de Fuego, at an elevation of about 8,000ft. above the 

 sea level. We saw them in a tree overhanging the 

 track to Acatenango, above the Indian huts of 

 Calderas, and succeeded in securing three or four speci- 

 mens before the rest took flight and flew away." Un- 

 fortunately this tells us nothing respecting the habits 

 of the species when in freedom. 



Mr. Seth-Smith ("Parrakeets." pp. 71, 72) says: 

 " In captivity this species is said to be tame and 

 gentle. It is somewhat delicate, and should never be 

 subjected to a lower temperature than 60 deg. Fahr. 



" Canary and millet seed and ripe fruit should form 

 its staple diet." 



Russ observes (" Handbuch," pp. 196, 197) : " In 

 1882 I received a pair from Fockelmann, of Hamburg. 

 In the collections of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe 

 Coburg-Gotha, of Vienna, and Mr. Blaauw, of 

 Amsterdam, otherwise not yet imported. Mr. Blaauw's 

 bird was very tame, uttered a song-like chattering, 

 and spoke two French words." 



Russ's book appeared in 1887, and in 1886 the 

 Zoological Society of London acquired a specimen ; 

 in 1889 two more, were added, and a fourth in 1895. 

 Of late years it has been more freely imported, and I 

 had the pleasure of seeing a pair in Mr. Seth-Smith's 

 collection. 



Blue-winged or Passerine Parkotlet 



IPsittacula passerina). 



Deep green, the cock bird with ultramarine blue on 

 the rump and wing, the face emerald green, the under 

 parts lighter than the upper ; beak and feet flesh- 

 coloured. The hen is slightly smaller, entirely green, 

 the head and neck being tinted with greyish ; her beak 

 is more arched and rather blunter. Hab., Brazil, 

 between Cape St. Roque and the mouth of the Amazon. 



Dr. Finsch says that this species is always gregarious 

 in its own country, and flies about in vast flocks ; it 

 inhabits the wooded coast, country, or brushwood on 

 the plains ; it is abundant even in the neighbourhood 

 of human habitations. Its favourite seed when wild 

 is that of tamarind trees. Its song is a fine whistling, 

 and its call-note is not unlike that of a Sparrow. This 

 author also says that even in its own country it is a 

 delicate bird in captivity, and difficult to keep in a 

 cage. As regards the last part of this statement, it 

 may be well to add the testimony of Herr August 

 Wiener : "When newly arrived the Brazilian Lovebird 

 is rather delicate, but with a little care the species 

 becomes quite hardy," which is not more than might 

 be said of half the birds that are imported from the 

 tropics. The Passerine Lovebird, or Blue-wing, as it 

 is sometimes called, has been bred in caiJtivity by Dr. 

 Russ and other German aviculturists, but in Great 

 Britain attempts to breed it have generally been less 

 successful. Jlrs. Rathborne (The Aviciiltural Maga- 

 zine, Second Series, Vol. I., p. 33) says : "Our Blue- 

 winged Lovebirds also bred in a log-nest out of doors 

 while we were away, but on our return we found five 

 dead young ones fully feathered in the nest. I fancy 

 rain must have got in and drowned them." 



Although often called the Blue-winged Lovebird, it 

 is not allied to the true Lovebirds, though from its 

 small size and ehort tail, the affection of the eexes to 

 one another, and the fact, vouched for, that males of 

 this species will pair with female Lovebirds, its affinity 

 to the Old World group might well be assumed. 



I think it was either i:i 1903 or 1904 that I pur- 

 chased a pair of Passei'ine Parrotletis. and turned them 

 into a flight-cage, at the back of which I had fixed a 

 email log-nest, in the hope of breeding the species. 

 Unfortunately the hen speedily died, and tli© cock for 

 some time wa.s doomed to a solitan,' existence. It has 

 been asserted by sentiuiental writers that the .so-called 

 Lovebirds (including the Blue-wing and the Budgerigar, 

 ais well as the true Lovebirds) speedily pine away if 

 kept alone in a cage, but this I have on several occa- 

 sions proved to be a pure mytli. ily Passerine Parrot- 

 let was quite happy by himself, but at the beginning 

 of 1905 I turned him into ome division of my smallest 

 aviary with two hens of the Madagascar Lovebird, and 

 (unluckily for himself a;nd his choice) he selected as his 

 mate the smaller and weakex hen of the two. Shortly 

 afterwards, in a fit of jealousy, the stronger bird killed 

 the wenker and gnawed away half lier skull. She then 

 made up to the Parrot let, but he persistently refused 

 to breed with her, though apparently friendly enough. 

 In 1906 she losti her temper and treated the Blue-wing 

 as .she had the hen of her own species, and in October 

 of the same year she died. The two hens had lived 

 togethed- for some yeai-s before I turned the Parrotlet 

 in with them, and therefore I rather doubt the advisa,- 

 bility of attempting to breed the above hj^'brid. 



The first specimen of this common species to reach 

 the London Zoological Gardens was presented in 1858. 



