I09


day. They sleep in the covered run during the hottest part of

the day, and are most lively in the evening. The cock's note is

something like the barking of a dog, and he has rather a nice

whistle in spring. I feed my Pennants on hemp and canary seed,

and they have a nice grass lawn in the aviary. They are great

bathers and delight in getting into a deep pan, and making the

water fairh^ fly. Mine have an aviar}^ to themselves, as do all

my Parrakeets, so I cannot say how they would behave in a

mixed society.


I have not been successful yet in breeding Pennants, as I

could never get a hen : but I quite hope to do so next year, if we

live and all goes well.


Pennants are never very plentiful in the market ; and I

consider that a true pair, and acclimatised, would be well worth

£$, in fadt I should say cheap.


To keep these big Parrakeets in cages is, I think, bar-

barous, and besides, you lose all their beauty.


When my lia}^ was ripe last year, my hen Pennant would

give me no peace unless I stopped each time and gave her a

bundle.


[We do not hold ourselves responsible for an3' of the opinions expressed or facts stated

in this article. The same applies to all articles published in the Magazine, but we wish it

to be clearly understood in this case, as onrpersonal feeling is that Mr Farrar's conclusions

require to be confirmed by the observation of other specimens, besides the pair about

<vhich he writes, before they can be accepted. — Ed.]



AVIARY NOTES.

By R. A. Todd.


An appeal from our energetic Secretary to supply him

with cop3^ is not always easy to respond to. To write one of

those delightful accounts of the life of a bird, or a happ}^

married pair, which so often decorate, and materiall}^ add to

the interest of, our Magazine, is not within my power.


Having a rather large collection myself, I am sometimes

inclined to envj^ other members of our Society who confine their

attention to a selecSt number of favourites, whose behaviour and

habits the}^ are, in consequence, able to observe closely and

describe in minute detail. Birds, after all, are ver}^ like human

beings. The solitary man or woman, living his or her individual

life apart in his or her appropriate cage, displays various

peculiarities or angles full}^ developed ; placed in a crowd, these

angles are soon worn off, and members of a large societ)^ become

verj^ much alike. My birds are all in a crowd, or I should rather



