3i A BIRD CALENDAR 



The breeding season for the alexandrine 

 (Palaeornis eupatrius) and the rose-ringed 

 paroquet (P. torquatus) begins at the end of 

 January or early in February. March is the 

 month in which most eggs are taken. 



In April and May the bird-catchers go 

 round and collect the nestlings in order to 

 sell them at four annas apiece. Green parrots 

 are the most popular cage birds in India. 

 Destructive though they be and a scourge to 

 the husbandman, one cannot but pity the 

 luckless captives doomed to spend practically 

 the whole of their existence in small iron cages, 

 which, when exposed to the sun in the hot 

 weather, as they often are, must be veritable 

 infernos. 



The courtship of a pair of green parrots is 

 as amusing to watch as that of any 'Arry and 

 'Arriet. Not possessing hats the amorous birds 

 are unable to exchange them, but otherwise 

 their actions are quite coster-like. The female 

 twists herself into all manner of ridiculous 

 postures and utters low twittering notes. The 

 cock sits at her side and admires. Every now 

 and then he shows his appreciation of her 

 antics by tickling her head with his beak or by 

 joining his bill to hers. 



