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“ gram.” Upon this diet it throve, and kept in good condition.

It shared the same cage as another Racket-tailed Parrot, which,

by its brighter plumage, I took to be a male. After removing the

bird from the Calcutta Zoo, for the purpose of bringing it to

England, I fed it as I would have done an African Grey Parrot,

viz., on canary seed, hemp, dari, rice in the husk, and millet ;

it was particularly fond of canary seed. A bit of dry biscuit,

toast, or crust of bread was always relished; as were also fruit,

such as banana or orange, and a little lettuce now and then.

During the first week or two of the voyage home, the bird was

continually gnawing its perch ; in fact, I had to get it renewed

by the ship’s carpenter. Latterly, it quite gave up the habit; and

I am inclined to think that the diet of hard seed and dry biscuit

effected the cure. Water was always left in the cage, but the bird

did not drink much ; it did little more than taste the water three

or four times a day. I use the word “ taste” in its correct sense

—some people who live in Scotland are apt to misapply the word

and exaggerate its meaning. (I am an Englishman ! ) When

pleased or excited the bird uttered a single note like the word

“ click.” At other times, especially when its cage was placed in

the sun, or after it had partaken of a juicy slice of a ripe

orange, it would cry out rather loudly in a chattering voice.

In the dark, if the cage were moved suddenly, the bird would

make a harsh, gutteral, hissing noise. I11 conclusion, I must

give the bird a good character, by stating that it never made

itself a nuisance by continually screaming, as so many badly

behaved Parrots are wont to do.



BREEDING OF THE RINGED-FINCH.


Stictoptcra annulosa.


By Mrs. Howard Williams.


We bought two pairs of these finches in January last, and

after a few weeks passed in a good sized flight cage, they were

turned into an aviary placed in our conservatory, containing

Gouldians, Long-tailed Grassfinches, Double-bands, a pair of

Zebra Waxbills, and a few Canaries and Avadavats.


They settled down happily, and took their share of all the

food going, consisting of Indian spray and white millet, ants’

eggs, Abrahams’preserved egg, canary seed, and, most important,

cliickweed, which we grow in frame all winter, and which we find

much less rank and coarse than the ordinary garden variety, and



