216 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



murdered her sister, chewing away one side of her skull ; 

 some months later, finding that the Blue-wing was 

 proof against her fascinations, she treated him in like 

 manner, and the following year she died. 



As a rule, when caged, grey-headed Love-birds crouch 

 in a corner and utter harsh, scolding notes whenever 

 anyone approaches them, but in 1899 I had the pleasure 

 of seeing a reallv tame example in the possession of my 

 friend Miss E. E. West. 



Of late years this bird has become such a drug in 

 the market that they have been sold as low as about 

 2s. a pair. The first pair to reach the London Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens at Regent's Park was purchased in 1860, 

 and, of course, plenty of examples have been received 

 since that date. 



ABYSSINIAN LOVE-BIRD (Agapornis taranta). 



Green, rump and upper tail-coverts brighter ; outer- 

 most greater wing-coverts black, tipped with green ; 

 bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and secondaries black ; 

 primaries brown, with a narrow green edging to outer 

 web; tail with a broad subterminal black band; 

 lateral feathers with the inner web yellowish towards 

 the base ; front of head, lores, and narrow orbital ring 

 red ; under surface bright green ; under wing-coverts 

 black ; beak red ; feet leaden grey, dark brown, or 

 black (according to various authors) ; irides brown. 

 Female with no red on front of head. Hab., North- 

 eastern Africa, from Abyssinia to Shoa. 



Heuglin says (" Ornithologie Nord-Ost Africas," pp. 

 747, 748) : " It usually lives in families of three to 

 eight individuals, most abundantly in the so-called 

 Woma-Dega (7.000 feet above sea-level), yet it descends 

 to the lowest limits of the Abyssinian olive-tree and the 

 Qolgual Euphorbia, and in Semien and Wogara we 

 still met little parties at 9-10,000 feet altitude. 



" The isolated companies lead a tolerably independent 

 life, but keep close together among themselves. They 

 affect the crowns of the higher trees, especially of 

 Juniperu* and the chandelier Euphorbias ; at the 

 season of the ripening of the fruits of the Cordias and 

 Sycamores they also settle upon them. The call-note 

 consists of a shrill, at times more chattering, chirp, very 

 like that of Agapornis pullaria. The males when in 

 flight often utter a sharp pfiff. The flight itself is 

 usually high, straight and humming; these birds also 

 climb with great facility.'' Heuglin thinks the pairing 

 season must be at midsummer. 



Alfred E. Pease, speaking of the species as observed 

 by him in South Abyssinia (The, Ibix, 1901, p. 680), 

 says : " The Red-fronted Parrot was common generally, 

 occurring in twos and fours ; its flight was extremely 

 rapid." 



In 1908 a dealer at Genoa had several specimens of 

 this Love-bird, a pair of which was presented by a 

 lady friend to the Rev. H. D. Astley. 



RED-FACED LOVE-BIED {Agapornis 



Bright green, paler below than above ; the beak, fore- 

 head. front of crown, and cheek are scarlet, the rump 

 bluish, the flight feathers brownish, edged externally 

 with green, the upper tail-coverts green, the tail-'feathers 

 with the basal third scarlet, bounded outwardly by a 

 broad black bar, the remainder green, legs grey; the 

 cock differs from the hen in the black coloration of 

 the under surface of its wings, her wings having the 

 under-coverts green ; her beak also is less brightly 

 coloured, shorter, more arched, and with shorter ter- 

 minal hook; her face and rump aro paler; she is also 

 smaller. Hab., "Western Africa, from the Gold 



Coast to the Congo, including the islands of Bight of 

 Benin, ranging eastwards across Equatorial Africa as. 

 far as the Gazelle River district and Niam-Niam 

 Country." (Salvador!.) 



According to Heuglin, this species flies much in the- 

 same manner as A. taranta, and has a similar note ; he 

 was unable to discover anything definite respecting its 

 habits. 



Mr. George L. Bates (The. Ibis, 1905, p. 89) says :: 

 "They resemble miniature Parrots in their tones and 

 actions, as well as in their appearance. They go about 

 in small flocks, making little metallic squeaky cries, 

 which yet have something in them recalling the screams 

 of Parrots. They like open country, and especially the- 

 tall grass called ' ukae,' from which they get their 

 Bulu name of ' Kos-ukae ' ('Kos' meaning Parrot)? 

 hence they are more common inland, for grass is scarce' 

 within a hundred miles of the coast. 



" At the back of my house at Efulen was a sort of 

 wild fig-tree, and "when its fruit was ripe a flock of 

 these little birds often visited it. Among them were 

 apparently young birds, which would sit on a limb 

 making a great racket and fluttering their wings till the 

 others brought them food." 



Mr. F. J. Jackson, describing birds obtained during- 

 a journey to the Ruwenzori Range (The Ibis, 1906. p. 

 514) says : " Iris brown ; bill salmon-pink ; feet light- 

 grey. Extremely common here. In passing this shamba 

 I must have seen between twenty and thirty of these 

 birds climbing about the trees amongst the bananas." 



The colouring of the soft parts would seem to vary 

 in different localities, since in his expedition to Uganda 

 the same collector obtained specimens which he- 

 describes differently (The lUs, 1892, p. 312) : " Iris 

 brown ; upper mandible yellowish-pink, lower one 

 yellowish-white; feet pale green." 



In The. Avicultural Magazine, Second Series, Vol. II., 

 pp. 350-552, Mr. G. C. Porter published an account of 

 his experience in breeding this species in an outdoor 

 aviary : " They nested in a small box with half a 

 cocoanut husk cemented inside, but any exact details I 

 cannot give. On my return I found two fine young ones,, 

 which had been reared, dead on the floor of the aviary. 

 I do not know whether to attribute their deaths to the- 

 mice which infest the place or to the excessive heat at 

 the time." 



Dr. Russ assures us that it has never yet been suc- 

 cessfully bred, and if he has not succeeded, it is a poor 

 look-out for any other aviarist who attempts it. Still, 

 Mr. Porter's experience should encourage one to per- 

 severe. 



I was never tempted to purchase the Red-headed 

 Love-bird, not only because of its apparent stupidity, 

 but because, when first imported, it is acknowledged to 

 be extremely delicate and liable to collapse. It is also 

 said to be decidedly spiteful towards other specimens of 

 its kind, as well as Passerine Parrakeets and Budge- 

 rigars. The partial successes in breeding the species in 

 Germany show that it lays from three* to five eggs, 

 Avhich are incubated by the hen alone for twenty-one 

 days ; the young in down are scantily covered, white, 

 with pure white beak and feet. 



The London Zoological Society acquired its first pair 

 of this species in 1863 and has, of course, had many 

 others since that date. 



ROSY-FACED LOVE-BIRD (Agapornis roseicollis). 



In its colouring the Rosy or Peach-faced Love-bird is 

 decidedly more pleasing than its red-headed relative. It 

 chiefly differs in its greenish-grey beak, rose-coloured 

 cheeks and chin, the sky-blue colouring of the rump and 



