208 



CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. 



indifferent to dainties ; and we have no means to tempt their confidence, or to reward 

 them for their meeting ouv overtures half-way. They will not touch sugar, and are 

 not greedy after meat ; we may withhold water, and they do not mind it in the least ; 

 the only thing they absolutely want, and which we cannot leave them without, is 

 canary-seed, to which we may add a little millet. The only way to tame the bird, 



v- 



Australian Paroquets. 



therefore, is by perseverance in regular feeding by the same hand, accompanied by 

 a little coaxing. 



These Paroquets never talk, but frequently learn to imitate the song of the 

 Canary and other birds. 



It is very easy to breed the Grass Paroquets in confinement. In their natural 

 state, they breed in holes of old trees, or any other cavity ; and all that is required 

 is an appropriate nesting-place. Some like the husk of a cocoa-nut, others a hollow 

 log of wood. They will lay four to seven white eggs on the bare wood, or on a few 



