Notes on the Farroquets of India. 333 



through, wire as thick as whipcord without the least difficulty. 

 This of course applies more particularly to the larger species. 

 In captivity, moreover, from the want of healthy exercise and tlie 

 sameness of the food, as well as from the improper nature of the 

 food itself, the brilliant colours are very apt to fade, the green 

 becoming greyish, and sometimes partially white. 



These birds, except at the breeding seasons, are all truly 

 gregarious, collecting into large flocks and screaming loudly 

 in concert as they cleave the air with rapid and rushing flig-bt, 

 so swift that they are scarcely seen before they are lost to sight. 



The natives in the Upper Provinces are curiously superstitious 

 about these birds, most of the large ones being regarded with 

 some degree of reverence ; and among the Hindoos the sale of a 

 tame parroquet would entail the loss of caste ; they are per- 

 mitted to give them away, but not to sell them, and even a bird- 

 catcher who brings the nestlings for sale, if he chance to pass 

 your door without offering the lairds, dare not retrace his steps 

 even when called, until he has hawked his stock throughout the 

 station ; you may go to him and purchase where he stands, but 

 he cannot return to you. The Hindoo, however, has a curious 

 method of evading the law which prevents his selling a pet 

 bird ; he will tell you openly he dare not sell his bird, which he 

 values at a high sum, and then cautiously following you, will 

 tell you, soUo voce, that he will give you the bird and trust to 

 your giving something in exchange, of course in the hope of 

 making a far better bargain. Poor Hindoo, I fear his morals 

 are no worse than those of more enlightened races. 



In preparing their nests these birds, having selected a suitable 

 tree, begin to cut a circular hole, generally in the trunk, and 

 having penetrated for four or five inches, they begin to cut 

 perpendicularly downwards for eight or nine inches, sinking a 

 perfectly cylindrical well, and laying their eggs on the soft 

 chips at the bottom, to which are sometimes added a few dry 

 leaves. 



The time of incubation is about twenty-one days, and the 

 nestling is sufficiently feathered in about a fortnight or so after- 

 wards, to be taken from tlie nest to rear, but if unmolested, it 

 would not leave it until a month or five weeks old. 



1.— : 



Taking Bennett's description of what he terms the true P. 

 Alexandri . of Ceylon, we find him stating in " The Garden 

 and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London,-" published 

 in 1835, that, "' the distinctive characters of this beautiful 

 species of parrot consist in the hroad Uack patch occupying the 



