The Breeding of the Passerine Parrotlet at Liberty 179


tempt them with any kind of green food, although it is not an un-

common sight to see them feeding on the turf when at liberty. (3) That

you cannot keep pairs together in a confined space for more than a

limited period. Sooner or later they start fighting most murderously ;

separating the sexes improves matters a bit, but the safest plan is to

keep each pair by themselves. (4) That, while they do not need a

large aviary, they pine away if kept in a cage for many months with-

out the amusement of a nest-box. I wish people would realize that it

is absolute cruelty to keep Lovebirds, Parrotlets, or even Budgerigars

permanently in a small cage with no opportunity of breeding.


In the early summer of 1920 I obtained a few pairs of freshly imported

Bluewings and turned them out in my garden in Hampshire, but the

torrential rain of that misguided summer, which seems to have borrowed

the entire rainfall of 1921 to add to its natural allowance, proved quite

too much for the Parrotlets, who all disappeared or contracted chills,

and only one hen survived. T determined to try a final experiment

with more or less established birds, and during the winter made up four

healthy pairs, which I released in the middle of May, adding a fifth

hen some time later as a mate for a Red-faced Lovebird. The Blue-

wings soon settled down and started inspecting nest-boxes and

quarrelling among themselves. By the end of the month one pair

seemed on the point of laying ; then a run of bad luck began. A cock

and two hens disappeared, a third hen died egg-bound, and the remains

of a fourth were discovered which had probably fallen a victim to the

same complaint. During July a young bird made its appearance at the

feeding-tray, and when it was quite independent of its parents I caught

it up for next year's stock. Fearing that it might be lonely and refuse

food, I gave directions that it was to be provided with a young

Budgerigar as a companion, but my fears proved to have been only too

well justified, for I heard a few days later that the poor thing had

crouched in the corner of the cage and starved to death ! Moral :

Do not cage young Bluewings singly and without companions used to

cage life.


Things were looking bad for the success of my Bluewing experiment,

as my stock was now reduced to a single pair and the two widowed

cocks. In August the hen of the pair disappeared, and as her mate



