124 The Marquess of Tavistock—Some New Guinea Rarities



The Conures have taken over the entire management of the concern

and keep all the other birds at a distance ; a Yucatan Jay seems to be

a special aversion of theirs and gets driven from pillar to post all day,

although he is twice their size. I am hoping that they will breed, as

I do not think that they have been bred in England before.


Just one final word as regards the feeding of Parrots. I attribute

any success that I have had with them to the fact that they get a

plentiful supply of fruit every day all the year round. One cannot

expect Parrots, whose natural food is ripe fruit, corn, and grass in the

ear, to thrive on dry seeds, which are too often covered with dust.

I also give a plentiful supply of bark, which I gather in the country

every week off dead trees ; willow-tree bark is the best, and it is the

easiest to pull off the trees. I have brought several ailing Parrots into

perfect condition by giving them a liberal supply of bark to bite up ;

it gives the birds something to do instead of moping in their cages

all day long. It is bad enough for them to be imprisoned at all, but it

is much worse for them to have nothing to do. The greatest thing in

keeping birds is not to try and see what is the lowest temperature

at which a bird can be kept alive, or what is the plainest food upon

which it can exist, but to keep the captive while it is under our care

as near as possible to ifl^ natural state, both as regards temperature

and food, and to make its life as happy as possible under the

circumstances.



SOME NEW GUINEA RARITIES


By the Marquess of T.wistock


I only kept the Parrots and Parrot Finches out of the New Guinea

collection (the Cassowaries are at the Zoo), and I regret to say that

a long series of obituary notices would be the leading feature in an

account of my acquisitions. The few surviving rarities are all single

birds, and up to the present I have not been able to move them to my

own house where I can study their habits.


At present I have thirteen Tricoloured Parrot Finches, which I am

about to put into aviaries for breeding; one female Sula Island



