IIAP.ITS AND BREEDING OF WILD PARROTS. 170 



HABITS AND BREEDING OF WILD PARROTS. 



MANY discussions have arisen among bird-owners relating to the question of 

 breeding Parrots iu captivity. A description of their mode of life and breeding- 

 places when wild will, perhaps, prove interesting, and at the same time answer the 

 question so often asked. In breeding Parrots, a great difficulty to be surmounted in 

 the cases of the largest and best-known species, such as the Gray, the Mexican, 

 and the South- American varieties, is the distinguishing of the sexes. There is no 

 known method of distinguishing the male from the female of the above species of 

 Parrots. As far as can be observed, the male and female of all the above rank 

 equal in intelligence : the colors are similar, and both are the same size. How, then, 

 is the Bender to be determined? The only answer to the question is, to determine 

 the difference in sexes by observation. After a Parrot is thoroughly acclimated, it 

 will be observed to have the natural restlessness common to all birds during the 

 latter spring months, the season which seems to be the regular breeding-time for all 

 classes of birds. In order to successfully select a pair of Parrots of the species 

 mentioned above, it is necessary to observe the attention which is paid by one 

 member to another during the breeding season,- where large numbers are kept in 

 the same apartment. A male bird will usually select his mate, and bestow caresses 

 and attentions on her, and act in the same manner as a pair of Canaries do. Sepa- 

 rate the pair from the rest, and place them together in a suitable apartment for 

 breeding purposes. 



In the smaller varieties of the Parrot family, which embrace also the Paroquets, 

 and in many of the large, brilliant-colored specimens, some distinguishing mark iu 

 the plumage is relied on to show the difference in sexes ; as, for instance, the male 

 Australian Paroquet is distinguished from the female by the difference in colors on 

 the fleshy excrescence at the base of the beak : the color of the male's being dark 

 blue, that of the female's white. In the African Love-bird, or Red-headed Paro- 

 quet, the common way of distinguishing the sexes is thought to be the difference in 

 the intensity of color on the head, the male being supposed to have a more brilliant 

 color than the female : this rule is, however, uncertain ; as the young males greatly 

 resemble the females in this respect. The sure mark is on the inside of the wings ; 

 the inside of the male bird's wings are a beautiful shade of deep blue ; in the female 

 the color of the inside of the wings is plain green. The Macaw is also another 

 instance where the sexes may be distinguished by the difference which exists in the 

 coloring of some part of the body. On the inside of the wing of the male Red 

 Macaw, near the outer edge, the color consists of a beautiful red : in the female the 

 color is plain drab. A long list might be enumerated, but the above distinguishing 

 marks do not appear to extend to the plainer-colored and better-known varieties. 



