164 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
Cocoanut husks with an entrance-hole at one end should 
be fixed for them to breed in; for food they need 
merely canary-seed and millet, with a fresh sod of turf 
put indaily. So treated, they will multiply like the 
Sparrows, having up to five young at a brood; they are, 
in fact, the best and most certain breeders of all cage- 
birds, and will very much more than repay their original 
cost, keep, and housing, if any market at all exists for 
the young. They are much bred in Europe, and have 
been bred successfully in India, especially by Mr. F. 
Groser, who, starting with only one cock to three hens, 
bred a great number for years without any fresh blood. 
But this is the only case I know of where these birds have 
been allowed to revel in polygamy, and in-breeding is 
best avoided—though I am bound to admit that I only 
saw one unhealthy bird in all the numbers my friend 
had bred in this way. 
In Europe a breed of yellow Budgerigars has been ob- 
tained, and specimens of this variety are now pretty 
generally for sale, though at three or four times the price 
of birds of the natural colour. One pair of these yellow 
birds I saw was absolutely pure yellow, with red eyes, 
but asarule the eyes are of the natural colour —white 
with a black pupil—and the plumage, although yellow 
altogether at a little distance, shows on close inspection 
faint traces of the dark markings above, and a wash of 
green below. The blue cere and cheek-spots are as 
bright as in natural-coloured birds. Blue Budgerigars 
have even been obtained in two instances, the parents! 
having been yellow ones. 
