My Sivctinson s lorikeets.



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I ought to say that my birds practically lived upon rabbits.

Mice and young rats suit them well enough, hut I remember two

cases where the sudden illness and death of a snowy owl could

only be attributed to its having been given an old, and probably

very tough, rat. Birds, my “ Snowies ” never cared for, and I have

known them refuse them, when I have thought them to he hungry.



MY SWAINSON’S LORIKEETS.


“GINGER” AND “MUSTARD.”


By Guy Falkner.


It is now eight years since I had “ Ginger ” (the hen) given

to me. She had been brought over from Australia in a canary cage

and a more dejected looking object 1 had never seen. Ginger soon

got tame, though when I received her she was very wild. “ Mustard”

(his Sunday name being “ Ko-ko ” !) I have only had quite a short

time, but he was fairly tame when I got him. Both my birds are

allowed to fly where they like ; their cage is in the kitchen, but they

use the open kitchen window as a “ bolt hole” and spend most of

the day flying about the kitchen garden, they are so exceptionally

tame that I have no fear of them flying away altogether. If I go

out into the garden they will both fly down to me, in fact, if I go for

a walk they come too, Ginger as a rule sits on my shoulder, but

Mustard prefers to fly from one tree to another after me. I think

that strangers who see my menagerie out for a walk (for a red deer,

a bull-dog, a goat, and a jackdaw invariably come too) must think

me an escaped lunatic.


The Swainsons delight is to sit on my writing table and tear

up any paper they can lay their beaks to, also they try the inkpot

when they are thirsty, though they seem to think, having tried it,

that a little ink goes a long way. Ginger, I am sorry to say, has a

taste for gin : she loves to sip it if she gets the chance, but the other

bird Mustard” won’t touch it. When they are on the floor, instead

of flying' on to my hands or shoulders, they climb up my trousers

and my coat and so on to my shoulder.


I feed my lorikeets chiefly on very sweet milk and sponge



