200 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



tree to tree with incessant screaming, small parties 

 start off for their feeding-grminds, flying low, just above 

 the trees, and every now and then uttering their full 

 and loud note ke-aar ; this sound is more long-drawn 

 and not so shrill as that of the smaller bird, and can 

 be heard at a great distance. Isolated birds have a 

 habit of apparently leaving the rest of tlie flock and 

 roaming off at a great height in the air, every now and 

 then giving out a loud scream, which often attracts the 

 attention of the traveller or sportsman for some little 

 time before he is aware of the position of the Parrakeet, 

 which is flying swiftly on far above his head. It is a 

 shyer bird than its smaller congener, and rather difficult 

 of approach when not engaged in feeding or in the 

 business of settling down for the night ; at the latter 

 time numbers may be shot without their companions 

 doing more than flying out of, and directly returning 

 to, their chosen trees. In the forests of the south- 

 eastern part of the island I ob.served these Parrakeets 

 resorting at evening to dead and sparsely-foliaged trees, 

 the bare branches of which afford them a similar perch 

 to that of the palm-frond, 



" They feed on grain as well as on the fruits and 

 berries of forest trees ; and I on one occasion captured 

 a tine sjjecimen which had become entangled in a species 

 of vetch wlaich covered the earthy portions of a rocky 

 islet near Pigeon Island : it had been feeding on the 

 seeds of the plant, and while extracting them from the 

 pod had got beneath the tangled mass and was unable 

 to extricate itself again. In confinement this species is 

 jwssessed of the usual docility peculiar to the Parrot 

 order, and is a very favourite pet in Ceylon with both 

 Europeans and natives ; I do not think it is as often 

 taught to imitate the human voice as the next species, 

 but I have heard it occasionally speak native words 

 with a fair amount of distinctness. Indian writers say 

 that it is taught with facility to speak ; but I think 

 that as a general rule in Ceylon it is kept more as an 

 ornament than for its powers of talking, and when newly 

 feathered, with its tail in perfect order, is a very hand- 

 some bird. 



" Layai-d writes that he was infoi-med by natives that 

 this bird laid two eggs, building, of course, as all 

 Parrakeets, in a hollow tree. It excavates the hole in 

 which it breeds, generally choosing a small limb, of 

 which the hard shell to be cut through before reaching 

 the interior cavity is not very thick. I have never suc- 

 ceeded in getting the eggs, and therefore can state 

 nothing certain concerning their size." 



Less frequently imported than the larger Indian bird, 

 lo is impossible to say when (if ever) it first reached our 

 London Zoological Gardens, because all the Alexandrine 

 Parrakeets are united in the Society's List under 

 Scopoli's name of Alexandri, no definite localities being 

 indicated. 



Nepalese Alex.indrine P.4ER.^KEET 

 {Palaornis nepalcnsis). 



Much larger than the preceding species, but otherwise 

 (excepting that the back of head and cheeks are greyer) 

 similar in both sexes. Hab., North and Central India. 



Jerdon confounds this with the other forms of Alex- 

 andrine Parrakeets, so that his notes on the habits need 

 not be quoted here. Hume also unites them all under 

 one heading, but notes the habitat under each observa- 

 tion. He says : " The Rose-band Paroquet breeds in 

 the Kangra Valley in April, laying four eggs in large 

 holes in trees, excavated by the birds themselves. 

 Though I have found plenty of nests with young, I have 

 never taken the egg myself, and owe this information 

 to Major Cock. 



" An egg of this species, taken by him, was a very 

 long oval, very much pointed towards one end, white, a 

 good deal soiled, and with little or no gloss. It 

 measured 1.52 by 0.95 inch. 



"Of this species Captain Hutton remarks: "Towards 

 the end of January and beginning of February it begins 

 to cut a circular' hole in some tree wherein to lay its 

 eggs, which are usually two in number and pure ■white. 

 The tree generally in request for this purpose is the 

 semul or cotton-tree (liombux heptiiphyllum and 

 malabaricum), although, sometimes, even the hard- 

 wooded sal (Shorea rohuffa) is chosen ; the entrance- 

 hole is a neatly-cut circle, either in the trunk or in some 

 thick upright branch. The trees selected by these birds 

 are not situated in the depths of the forests, but are 

 detached on the outskirts, and, \\hat is curious in such 

 a quarrelsome bird, there are often three or four nests 

 ill the same tree. Tlie eggs are hatched in about 

 twenty-one days, and in the middle of March the young 

 birds ale about half-tledged and are then removed for 

 .sale." 



According to Willughby, writing in 1678 : " This was 

 the first of all the Parrots brought out of India into 

 Europe, and the only one known to the ancients for a 

 long time, to wit, from the time of Alexander the Great 

 to the age of Nero, by whose searchers (as Pliny wit- 

 nesseth) Paa'rots were discovered elsewhere, viz., in 

 Gagandi, an Island of Ethiopia." 



This is perhaps the most frequently imported and 

 best known of all tlie Alexandrine Pan-akeets, and it is 

 probable that most of those recorded in the Zoological 

 Society's List from 1855 to 1893 belong to this race. 



InDO-BuEMESE ALEX.UJDRINE P.\ER.\KEET. 



{Paltr.orriis indobunnanica). 



Differs from the preceding in the brighter red patch 

 on the wing-coverts and in having a narrow blue collar 

 above the rose-coloured one on the back of the neck ; 

 beak bright red with yellow tip. Female smaller and 

 without the black stripe and collar. Hab., Sikhim to 

 Tenasserim and eastwaixis to Cambodia. 



In Hume's " isests and Eggs of Indian Birds." Second 

 Edition, Vol. III., p. 84, we read: "Mr. J. Darling, 

 jun., found the nest of this Parotjuet in Tenasserim. He 

 says : ' December 10th. Took four eggs of this bird 

 at Weppitau, a small village at the moutli of the Moul- 

 mein River, on the opposite bank to Amherst, some two 

 miles from the seashore. The nest was in the hole of a 

 tree in light jungle, bordering the side of one of the 

 numerous creeks, and which is always flooded at high 

 water. It was 32 ft. from the ground : the entrance 

 was 4 in. in diameter, and seemed to have been made 

 by the bird in order to get to the hollow in the stump. 

 The eggs were about 2 ft. 3 in. below the entrance ; 

 there was no lining of any sort, only a few chips on 

 « hich the eggs were laid.' " 



Count Salvador! says that this bird " cannot always 

 be readily distinguished from P. iiijiahiisu." 



Whether this race has been imported or not I cannot 

 say, but Mr. Seth-Smitli includes it and the next in his 

 Ixiok on the Parrakeets. and therefore I also include it. 

 It is quite as likely to come to hand as P. rosa. 



Gee.\t-billed Alexandrine Pabrakeet 

 (Palaornis magnirostris). 

 Differs from the preceding in its much larger and 

 stronger beak : beak bright red, the tip yellow ; cere 

 yellow ; feet orange-yellow : irides bright yellow ; eye- 

 lids pale pink, with orange edges. Female snraller ; 

 without the black stripe and rose-red collar. Hab., 

 Andaman Islands. Tliis is another race included bv 



