THE



73



Avicultural Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series .— Vol. IV.—No 3. —All rights reserved. JANUARY, 1913.



BREEDING OF THE HOODED

PARRAKEET.


Psephotus cucullatus.


By Hubert D. Astley, F.Z.S., M.B.O.H., etc.


I think the fact was recorded that last winter my pair of

Golden-shouldered Hooded Parrakeets nested twice, in November

and December, but although there were young in the eggs, at any

rate in the second clutch, they failed to hatch. These happenings

took place in a bird-room.


This summer I turned this beautiful pair of what are almost

the loveliest of their family into a large outdoor aviary, but true to

their wild habits, they refused to nest until October, when in their

native country (Northern Australia) their springtime would be

flourishing.


On my return from Italy on the 20th of October, where I

had been for two months, my bird-keeper told me that he was sure

that the female Hooded Parrakeet was sitting in a long log, laid

horizontally on some cross-beams under the lean-to roof of the open

part of the aviary, about ten feet up. The log in which this interest¬

ing event took place is almost six feet long, and hollow from one end

to the other, a regular tunnel with a flooring of dry and decayed

wood.


After my return home, I began to wonder whether, after all,

things had not ended unsatisfactorily, for the female was constantly

off the nest, but my hopes revived when she w T as also often to be

seen entering the log from time to time, and better still, to be passing



