56 NESTING BOXES, ETC. 



The attempt was partially successful, and the 

 birds nested several times, and Mr. C. Buxton, in a 

 paper read before the British Association in 1868, 

 relates that a pair of Cockatoos made a nest in 

 one of the boxes hung against a gable of the house, 

 and the hen bird sat till September, but the eggs 

 were addled. 



On several other occasions the Cockatoos nested 

 with successful results, but most of the birds on 

 straying from home got shot. 



Afterwards a pair of Green Parrots nested in a 

 box and brought up one young one, but when 

 nearly fledged it was murdered by one of the 

 parents. The next year the same pair brought up 

 two young ones, and it was a beautiful sight to 

 see this family party flying about, always together, 

 and on the most loving terms, but the mother 

 bird and one of the young ones were both un- 

 happily shot. 



Mr. C. Buxton narrates the following anecdote, 

 showing the maternal instinct of a pair of Grey 

 Parrots : — " A cat made her lodging in one of the 

 nest-boxes and brought up her kittens in it, and 

 two of the Grey Parrots who had not been in- 

 dustrious enough to lay eggs and have a family of 

 their own were seized with the idea that these 



