166 M. Amslei — Breeding of the King Parrakeet


Growth continued apace,, and on 5th September, at the age of 6 weeks,

the first youngster left the nest and marched solemnly about the small

aviary. He was about two-thirds the size of the parents, with, of course,

a stumpy tail, which made him look still smaller. The colour was much

that of the female ; green head and back, with darker flights ; the rump

blue, legs and feet horn coloured, beak a pinkish brown. The young of

the species are said to have the outer webs of the tail feathers pink,

but I could not find this trait in my birds, even on handling them. The

first young bird returned to its somewhat unnatural nest for the night

but reappeared on the two following days ; it was, however, very timid,

and would always bolt back to its " burrow " on the approach of any

human being.


By 12th September this bird could fly strongly, and looked very

nearly as large as its parents. On this day, the second chick left the

nest and did not return— there was heavy rain that night, but neither

looked any the worse on the morning of the 13th, when a third and

much smaller chick appeared. As the flight has no shelter and the

nights were becoming cold, I caught and transferred the five birds to

an aviary with a large shelter shed, into which I had them shut up at

night. For a time the smallest bird was inclined to mope about on the

ground, and spent much of his time crying bitterly for the companion-

ship of his brothers and parents on the perches above. T occasionally

took him i.|> in my hands and put him on a branch ; this was always

accompanied by a violent fit of yelling, which continued long after I

had left him, and reminded one strongly of a frightened or spoilt child.


At the present time. 1st October, all three young can fly strongly.

Their favourite food is hemp, sunflower, and apple, but they also eat

a fair quantity of mixed chicken com and boiled maize. The two larger

ones are scarcely distinguishable from their mother, but one of them has

distinctly brighter and more extensive red on the underparts, and is

obviously a male. They are quite independant, but they still like being

fed. and on this point their parents pander to them.



