150 



FOKEIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



well as on all similar districts on the Peel and other 

 rivers which flow to the north-west. I have seen the 

 ground quite covered by them while engaged in procur- 

 ing food, and it was not an unusual circumstance to gee 

 hundreds together on the dead branches of the gum. 1 trees 

 in the neighbourhood of 'water, a plentiful supply of 

 which would appear to be essential to their existence. 



"The flight of the Cookatoo-Parrakeet is even and 

 easy, and is capable of being long protracted. When 

 it .rises from the ground it flies up into the nearest tree, 

 almost invariably selectrng a dead branch, upon which 

 it frequently perches lengthwise. It is by no means a 

 shy bird, and from the circumstance of its being excel- 

 lent eating many are killed for this purpose by persons 

 leading a bush life. 



" It breeds in the holes of gum and other trees grow- 

 ing i'a the neighbourhood of water. The eggs are white, 

 five or six in number, lin. long by fin. broad." 



Campbell says : " Eggs. 'Clutch, four to seven, 

 usually five" ; but he tells us that "occasionally more 

 than one pair of birds breed in the same tree." I 

 should think hardly in the same hole, when one sees 

 how quarrelsome they often are in the breeding season. 

 In its wild' state it is said to produce only two broods 

 in the year, but, like many other Australian birds, when 

 kept in an aviary, its fecundity seems to be greatly 

 increased ; at the same time, I found my first pair much 

 more inclined to breed during the winter than, the sum- 

 mer months in an indoor aviary, though they never got 

 beyond eggs. 



This pretty species has a crest somewhat similar to 

 that of the Lemon-crested Cockatoos, but the bird has 

 not the same power of depressing it, although when 

 excited he can bring it more forward. 



The beet contrivance for nesting purposes I found to 

 be the ordinary log-nest ; boxes with a hole at one end, 

 and with an inch or two of sawdust in the bottom, have 

 been recommended (see "Hints on Cage-Birds," p. 39), 

 and my friend Mr. Seth -Smith succeeded best with 

 these ; but though I tried one in my Parrakeet aviary 

 the hen Cockateel would not lay in it, but dropped her 

 eggs anywhere in preference ; in the log-nest she laid 

 four eggs, evidently at intervals of several days, and 

 sat upon them steadily every night, the cock taking his 

 turn by day ; but, for some reason or other, they did 

 not hatch out, though all were fertile, the eldest having 

 rotted in the shell, the second died when ready to 

 hatch, the third when half developed, and the fourth 

 when just beginning to solidify. The mother was evi- 

 dently out of health, and one evening she refused to 

 go on to the eggs, although her husband did his best 

 to persuade her to do so ; on the following morning 

 she suddenly fell to the floor of the aviary in a kind 

 of a fit, and when picked up by a man who chanced 

 to be in the house, and wished to put her back on a 

 branch, she struggled and bit so savagely that he let 

 her slip through his hands with the loss' of her tail ; 

 the next dav she died, and I opened the eggs, which 

 were then all cold. I purchased what was believed to 

 be another hen, ibut it shortly developed the cock 

 plumage, and the quarrels between the two birds -were 

 so incessant and so terrified my Budgerigars that I got 

 rid of them. At the end of 1905 I exchanged a cock 

 Wonga-Wonga Pigeon with Mr. Thorpe for two pairs 

 of Cockateels, and turned them into one of my bird- 

 room aviaries, where they quarrelled a good deal. I 

 again supplied a box, a log, and various large receptacles 

 of the cigar-box pattern. (See " Hints on Cage-Birds," 

 p. 41.) Throughout 1906 many attempts were made at 

 breeding, most of the eggs being dropped from the 



branches and broken, but one or two being laid first in 

 one box, then in another, but never incubated. Finally 

 the hen of the stronger pair died on March 18, 1907, 

 egg bound ; she had been weakened by incessant laying. 

 I therefore removed the cock to a cage, leaving one 

 pair in the bird-room. The latter continued to waste 

 their energies until about the middle of June, when 

 they finally selected a cigar nest-box in which to .lay. 

 Early in July I heard a young bird being fed, and 

 finally this one left the nest-. The parents continued 

 to feed it for about a month after it flew, although it 

 was well able to cater for itself. Unfortunately it 

 proved to be a cock. In 1908 I turned all four into a 

 small aviary which had been recently enlarged, and 

 there they are as I write. 



Pretty and easy to breed in an outdoor aviary as 

 the Cockateel is, I cannot say that it is a favourite 

 of mine ; a rapid runner, noisy flier, and hard biter ; 

 the cock bird is a great chatterer ; the song is varied 

 to some extent, but each phrase is repented many times. 

 One very frequent utterance seemed to be an obsession 

 with iny birds one day when my grandson was present, 

 and he asked me, " Grandpa, what are those birds 

 saying?" "Listen!" I replied. "Here you're 

 coming ! Where are you going ! " " Yes, grandpa, 

 that's just what they are saying." And when such a, 

 senseless jingle is reiterated for about ten minutes 

 without cessation it becomes tiresome. At times the 

 utterance bears a strange resemblance to its own name 

 in a harsh whistle, cockacheea ; at others it sounds like 

 " Very poorly, pooly, pooly, pooly." A cock 

 bird of this species, if brought up from the nest, has 

 been known to learn a few words, or even short sen- 

 tences ; he then makes a very nice cage pet ; but in an 

 aviary he makes too great a disturbance amongst his 

 smaller cousins. 



CHAPTER X. 



PARROT LIKE BIRDS (Peittacida). 



This is the largest, most widely distributed, and most 

 difficult to characterise of all the families of Parrots : it 

 has been sub-divided into six sub-families : Nasiter- 

 nince, containing Nasiterna (a genus of spine-tailed 

 Parrots) ; ConurincR, including the Macaws, Conures, 

 Passerines, and a few allied forms ; Pionince, compris- 

 ing the Amazons, Caiques, and a few others ; 

 Psittacince, to which group the Grey Parrot and other 

 African types belong ; Palceornithinoe, including the 

 Eclecti, the various Ring-necked and other allied 

 Parrakeets, the Love-birds and Hanging-Parrakeets ; 

 Platycercince, which includes the B<roadtai.Ls, Grass ; 

 and Ground Parrakeets. The lovely little Pigmy- 

 Parrots (Nasiterna) appear to have never been imported 

 alive, ^although in 1908 Mr. Walter Goodfellow had 

 twelve examples of the most beautiful species 

 (N. bruijni), but had to release them because he had 

 run short of seed on which to' feed them during the- 

 journey home. They are among the tiniest of Parrots,, 

 the largest being only 4in. in length ; all are brightly 

 coloured. Doubtless these birds will be imported, but 

 it is probable that only .public institutions or the very 

 wealthy will ever have the pleasure of keeping them. 



Macaws, Conures, &c. 



(Sub-Family Comirina). 



The Conurince are mostly brilliantly coloured birds, 

 with very powerful beaks, deeper than long, the hook 



