some Experiences of King Parrakeets. 295


company with the best hen, intending to set the pair at liberty when

the warmer weather returned. But this unhappily was not to be,

for a few weeks later the Queen sickened and died of a disease of

the liver, possibly brought on by a too liberal indulgence in hemp-

seed, and the hen with the stiff wings had therefore to take her

place. In April, the pair went out together as I hoped to stay and

perhaps to nest—but not a bit of it! The Queen’s flight in the

aviary had been clumsy and erratic, but outside she got on only too

well, and without a day’s hesitation she went straight off to the

extreme limits of the Park, taking her mate with her. Two days

later she was picked up exhausted and returned to me, and not

long afterwards the cock was captured in a farmer’s poultry-yard.

So ended the second chapter.


Having no proper aviary accommodation for the recalcitrant

pair, I was obliged to cut their wings, hoping that by the autumn

the hen would have become better used to her surroundings and

more accommodating in her behaviour.


That summer I obtained five more Kings—three young im¬

ported cocks and a splendid pair of adults— acclimatized and in

perfect condition. With this stock I looked upon the establishment

of a flock of Kings as merely a question of time. But, alas ! “ The

best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft ag'ley,” and on this

occasion my hopes were to be disappointed with a vengeance!

About the middle of July my collection was swept by the scourge

of septic fever, introduced I believe, in the first instance, by a

newlv-imported Crimson-wing I had rashly omitted to quarantine.

Septic fever is often regarded as a disease which can only flourish

in dirty cages and stuffy rooms : that it originates in such places is

beyond doubt, but I learnt to my cost that it can be disseminated far

and wide in the open air and among the cleanest surroundings. Not

only did the outdoor aviary birds die, hut many of those at complete

liberty, which came occasionally to feed in the enclosures where

their cut-winged relatives were kept. I did all I could and attempted

to save the apparently healthy, by moving them from the infected

ground, only to find that I had taken them in hand too late and

had merely succeeded in spreading the disease still further. When

the epidemic appeared to have run its course I had only one



