THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. ?3 



plucking off feathers, and is a delightful sedative to a noisy or ill- 

 tempered bird. A bit of hard wood of any kind answers as 

 well in place of a cotton-reei, but the latter possesses a charm of 

 some sort. Perhaps the perforation suggests a mystery to be 

 explored, the home, the bird may think, of a fat grub worth digging 

 out for supper. A reasonable amount of shouting and riot is good 

 for these excitable creatures. I sometimes wake them up by 

 clapping my hands, and using loud, laudatory, and babyish language, 

 and obtain immediate and frantic response, that goes all round the 

 house ; for the birds are scattered, and the sound of joy in one 

 apartment soon travels to another, and screaming and crowing (or 

 I might say craying, for the sound is such) makes the house a sort of 

 bird-Bedlam pro. tern. The cockatoos display their crests, and their 

 wings, and their tails gloriously on these occasions, and that wild, 

 discordant, unteachable thing, the Red-thi'oated Australian parrot, 

 joins heartily in the chorus, and appears to consider it a war- 

 whoop. 



Occasional change is good for parrots, especially the more clever 

 of their number — for these, of course, are the more observant. I 

 occasionally send my best birds away to the houses of friends, where 

 they are always welcome, and I find the jirocedure decidedly bene- 

 ficial. It affords me a welcome rest, and, at the same time, provides 

 the birds with new excitement, the result being a healthy rousing 

 from the monotony of their ordinary life, and contributions of 

 parrotical joy to other households. Change about the house is good 

 in its way, but change out of the house is better. As a rule, how- 

 ever, when the birds are at home, they should be, as much as possible, 

 kept in the same places. AVe all like change, and yet we like our 

 customary chair and chimney-corner. It is just the same witli the 

 parrots ; they are very human in their sympathies and require- 

 ments. 



I ought, I feel, to say a word about the liting propensities of 

 these pets. Good management does almost entirely obliterate this 

 vexatious habit ; but there are some that never give up snapping, 

 however well trained they may be. The most tiresome kind in this 

 respect is the Amazons parrot, which can never be depended on. 

 There is one golden rule for the real lover of parrots in respect of 

 this habit, and it is, to ignore it as much as possible. It is no easy 

 matter, I know, to appear unmoved and quite unaware of the fact 

 that your pet is disposed to make a hole in your finger ; but it is 

 the right way to behave in the hour of danger. It is astonishing 

 how well you may get through a trial of the kind, if you completely 

 control your fears. By the exhibition of fear, and snatching the 

 hand away, the bird is encouraged to bite, and will bite hard ; but if 

 treated as worthy of the most complete confidence, it will be often 

 found that the object was not to punish, but to play; and it must 

 ever be borne in mind that affection, quite as much as dislike, is 

 exhibited by parrots in the use of the mandibles, and they love to 

 gently nibble the fingers of their friends, and must be allowed to 

 learn to do it. I am much amused sometimes when my man is 

 cleaning and dressing the parrots, and has his bare arms in the cage 



March. 



