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Mr. Hubert D. Astley,



hatch out, for the bird was fidgety. This was what I call Pair

No. 3. They are now nesting again (3rd of June).


Pair No. 2 were also unsuccessful, for the hen chose too

deep a box, and consequently jumped down on to the eggs, broke

one or two—she had five—and the yolk stuck to her feathers,

so that the other eggs were spoilt. She is now nesting again.


Pair No. 1. Well ! Bravo Pair No. I! ! They selected

what I am convinced is the most desirable form of nesting-box

for parrakeets, which I have made at home. Two feet long, with

a wooden cup let into the floor of the box at the farthest end

from the entrance hole, which is at one side. The box is hung

horizontally, that is lengthways on the wall, and the parrakeets

can walk in and settle quietly on their eggs, feeling secure in the

dark corner where the depression is made. A nice handful or

two of rotten wood is put in, and on this the eggs are laid. The

wooden cup is below the level of the floor, and at the other end a

door is made, so that if necessary one can look in, besides which

it facilitates cleaning out the box when the young have flown.


Well ! Pair No. 1 took possession of such a box, which was

one hung in a dark corner of a roosting house, about ten feet up

on the wall. The hen laid her eggs in April, and as with Nos.

2 and 3, the male was constantly seen to feed her and to mate;

the feeding always taking place first.


In the beginning of May the hen kept so closely on her

eggs that I began to wonder whether she was alive, so quiet and

silent was everything within ; which terrible thought impelled

me to mount a ladder to look in the box. As I did so, out she

scurried, looking as fresh as paint. As I was up, I thought I

would have a peep, opened the door, and there at the farther end,

lying in the nest of rotten wood-chips, which had been bitten up

very finely, were seven eggs. I hurried down and left the birds

to their own arrangements. On the 12th of May, young ones

were heard making their scraping raucous call when they were

fed, and the male bird took to going into the nest as well as his

wife. The noise of the young ones might have been produced

by at least five, so that I was full of great hopes.


The male is extraordinarily tame, and directly I go in to

his apartment, he settles either on one of my arms, or shoulders,



