6o Favourite Foreign Birds. 



floor of their prison ; and under these circumstances 

 there is nothing to be wondered at in the small per- 

 centage of Grey Parrots that live after their arrival in 

 this country, for, in addition to typhoid fever and 

 diphtheria, which are already at work in their systems 

 owing to the treatment they have received, they con- 

 tract bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs, and 

 not one in a hundred newly-imported birds survives 

 twelve months. It behoves the reader, therefore, in 

 purchasing a Grey Parrot, to be very careful to see 

 that he is obtaining one that is thoroughly healthy 

 and acclimatised. 



Few persons seem to know how to treat Grey 

 Parrots. As a rule, the poor birds get fed on " scraps 

 from the table," " bread soaked in tea, coffee, or 

 milk," and not infrequently they are deluged with water 

 " because they will not bathe "; whereas they roll in 

 sand or dust like larks and chickens. They get no 

 wood to nibble a necessity for Parrots which are 

 born whittlers and no small stones to aid them in 

 the digestion of their food. In addition, many 

 fanciers deprive the poor things of water, and force 

 them, for the sake of the moisture it contains, to eat 

 " sop," until they die from indigestion, owing to 

 over-distension of the crop. 



For food, a Grey Parrot requires boiled maize (fresh 

 every day, for it soon turns sour), hemp- and canary- 

 seed (which some, however, will not touch at first), 

 a crust of dry bread, and occasionally a little ripe 

 fruit or a few nuts. "Sop" should be most carefully 

 avoided, as the traditional diet of bread and milk is 

 an abomination. No animal food should be given, 



