Stories from Real Life.



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ended in a fierce fight and the injured husband got the worst of

it, the hen being quite unhurt. I was out when it happened, and

when I came in I found “ Barnie ” with a cut on his head, behind

the aviary door, and looking very wretched.


I put him in a cage, as matters were evidently too serious

to leave the birds together, and considered what I should do

next. At last I decided on getting another hen, for I felt very

angry with the culprit and thought it would do her good to feel

she was not the only hen Barnard in existence. I thought

“Barnie” would take gladly to a new mate, but here I was

mistaken, so great an affection had he for his faithless wife that

he deeply resented the new arrival, in spite of her being a lovely

bird with a very sweet whistle. I let the new comer out with

“ Barnie” in another compartment of the aviary, and to my great

disappointment he flew at her and fought her with angry cries,

so savage was he that after one or two attempts I had to finally

separate them. It is a splendid sight to see two Barnards fight¬

ing, their wings and tails spread, their colour flashing like

jewels—but it has its serious side, for unless checked it means

death or wounding to the combatants. You may have noticed

that when Parrakeets fight they will always try to seize or bite

that part of each other which is the least protected by feathers,

namely, the head, feet, or legs. I have had a parrakeet (if I

remember rightly, a Java) die from a fearful wound in the head,

which was just gripped, the bite piercing the eye to the brain;

and once another bird died from a wound in the foot, caused, I

believe, by “Dick” in the first instance. I11 this last case I

dressed the foot and it stopped bleeding, and put the bird in a

quiet cage, hoping it might recover, but the wound must have

broken out afresh, for later I found it dead, evidently from shock

and loss of blood.


But to return to the Barnards—here I was with three birds

and all of them disagreeing. I decided on parting with the new

hen, and after I had done so this bird won her new owner the

Society’s medal for the first instance of this parrakeet breeding

in England. The old pair I put back in their original cage, with

a sliding wire partition between, so that they could see but not

fight each other. After some months the Barnards became



