PARRAKEETS. 



165 



correct : with her much more powerful beak she is cer- 

 tainly better fitted for the work than the male. 



In 1892 I had a pair of these birds, and found them 

 amusing, though somewhat treacherous, and hard 

 biters ; I always took care that they bit upon my 

 thumb-nail, and when the pressure got too hard I 

 squeezed the under side of the lower mandible, which 

 made them let go at once. 



shrieking of the larger Parrots ; it is nothing more 

 than a combination of the cawing of a Rook with the 

 yapping of a small dog. 



After I had kept my birds for some little time in a 

 cage, I thought I would try them in an aviary. They 

 seemed to enjoy the change and increased liberty, and 

 gave no trouble for a week or two ; then, to my horror, 

 when I came down in the morning I found my birds 



PASSERINE PARRAKEETS. 



Quaker Parrakeets are fond of a game ; they play 

 with one another, with a bit of stick, or one's finger, 

 like a couple of lively puppies, and, although at times 

 they are noisy, it is only for lack of something more 

 entertaining to _do. A tin full of seed, or a piece of 

 wood, will stop their noise at once. The singing of an 

 English Thrush generally starts them off, and they 

 squall until they are tired ; but the din made by Quaker 

 Parrakeets is melody compared with the horrible 



in the adjoining aviary. With their powerful beaks 

 they, or perhaps it was the female alone, had cut a 

 circular piece about four inches in diameter out of 

 the tolerably strong iron wire netting, and were dis- 

 porting themselves among much smaller birds. ! 

 bundled them back, patched up the hole, and hoped for 

 better things, but now they started at the back of their 

 aviary, cut out a large piece of wire, and got between 

 the wirework and the glass at the back of a greenhouse. 



