130 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



I found these handsome birds to be perfectly hardy 

 and kept them out of doors during an exceptionally 

 severe winter, when on more than one occasion I have 

 actually seen them break a thin film of ice on their 

 water-pan in order to bathe. 



These birds have frequently bred in confinement, 

 sometimes in a hollow log like the rest of the Parrot 

 race (with one certain and a few doubtful exceptions), 

 and sometimes on the ground behind a brick, or a 

 piece of board. My pair had begun to think about 

 nesting, when I had to send them away, for which I 

 was sorry, but they had already murdered a Red-rump 

 and a White-headed Love-bird, and seriously injured 

 my old Cockateel, ''The Chaplain", which last was an 

 unpardonable offence and led to their immediate 

 banishment. 



In a state of nature these beautiful birds feed on 

 the nectar of tfre flowers of their native land, a diet 

 for the immortals, but they eke it out with many flies, 

 of which they partake as freely as they do of honey : 

 in this country the dealers will tell you that the birds 

 will live on seed, and so they may lor a time, but the 

 result, after a few weeks or months, is death in con- 

 vulsions, caused by indigestion. It stands to reason 

 that it must be so. But when they are dieted in a 

 manner more nearly approaching that they have been 

 accustomed to, they will live for a long time, witness 

 a pair in the Parrot-house at the "Zoo", where they 



