152 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



The supposed hen remained outside all the second 

 winter and in the following spring moulted into a cock I 

 so that the bird must have been at least three years 

 old before it assumed the adult plumage. It was then 

 sent to the Bird Show at the Crystal Palace, where 

 it took the first prize in the Class for Ring-necked 

 Parrakeets, and was claimed at a price more than four 

 times the amount I had paid for the two birds. 



On several subsequent occasions I have had these 

 Parrakeets in my possession, and have always found 

 them docile and quiet, but not gifted with a great 

 amount of intelligence; no one, however, can deny their 

 personal beauty, which is considerable: in addition to 

 that they are perfectly hardy and very easy to feed, 

 for they prefer hemp-seed and Canary-seed to anything 

 else as their staple food ; they are very fond of a morsel 

 of cake or of fruit, or of a piece of sugar now and 

 then, and enjoy them all, holding the delicacy up in 

 one foot, and nibbling at it carefully all round, after 

 the manner of the large Parrots. 



I have heard a pretty story about two of these birds, 

 one of which had the misfortune to lose a foot. It 

 contrived, nevertheless, to get about the aviary very 

 well with the help of its bill, but came to a complete 

 standstill in the matter of feeding, having to stoop to 

 the level of a common Sparrow when it wanted to 

 eat, which for a well-bred Parrakeet was intolerable. 

 Its friend and companion agreed with the lame one 



