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•came to nothing; the other three all hatched and produced two hens and a

•cock. The two hens I still have in splendid health and plumage, but the

young cock died. I attribute the loss to his having been accidentally shut

■out one chilly night while very young, when he caught cold, and death

ensued. They left the nest at a very tender age, before they could walk

properly, and days before they could fly. I put them back a time or two,

hut the)'- were out again soon after and appeared determined to stop out!

They were reared without any fuss or extras: the food being spray millet,

canary seed, white millet, and a little hemp mixed; they had, also, a liberal

supply of groundsel, cliickweed, and flowering grass, roots with it. A

saucer of soft food, for the Finches, is always in the aviary — ants’ eggs, a

prepared food (bought), and bread-crumbs, mixed, a little boiling milk

being poured over the whole, just sufficient to moisten it—and this the

parents were very fond of picking over while feeding their young, more on

account, I fancy, of the bread and milk than the ants’ eggs. I only

obtained one nest, rather late, as will be seen—young hatched in June—

and the parents are now moulting; but if they could be induced to com¬

mence a little earlier, two nests might be obtained during the year. They

belong to the same genus— Psefihotus —as Redrumps, and from a pair of the

latter I had three nests last year and three again this.


As regards the character and disposition of the Many-coloureds, with

me they have done little harm to the small birds lodged with them—but

the aviary is large ; in close quarters, as far as my observations go, I do not

think they would be “ inoffensive creatures towards small birds,” as

one writer calls them, especially when the breeding-season conies round.

In my aviary they seemed very bitter towards a male Saffron-finch, and the

cock Many-coloured nearly strangled him one day ; yet, strange to say, the

pair of Saffrons had nest after nest in a box not eighteen inches away from

the Parrakeets. Neighbours do quarrel sometimes ! So far, I have had no

more troublewith Many-coloureds than with Redrumps; butmy success may

be attributed to possessing a healthy robust pair—there are “ Multicolor et

Multicolor, comme il y a fagot et fagot,” as the French say. But a good

pair, well accommodated, ought to breed with anybody.


Many-coloureds are rather larger than Redrumps, and, as everybody

knows, the male bird has a most gorgeous plumage. The lieu is much of

the hen Redrump plumage, but can be readily distinguished from her by

three red patches—one on the head and one on each shoulder. Young hens

have the patch on the head as soon as they leave the nest, but those on the

shoulders come later : my two young hens have little or no red yet. Young

cocks, on leaving the nest, are feathered like the parent bird, the colours

being less vivid. The parents are most attentive to their young, and feed

them for several weeks after they leave the nest.


I would strongly recommend anybody who attempts breeding these

Parrakeets to give a liberal supply of fresh groundsel daily , and plenty of

flowering grass, roots included, as soon as it can be got in the spring, and

continue it fresh daily as long as it lasts ; they are extremly fond of it, and

groundsel.


My two young hens seem very fond of each other: they preen one

another frequently. They are not exactly alike as regards plumage, one

is rather lighter than the other ; after the first moult they will probably

both be like the mother.



