Further Notes on the Black-cheeked Lovebird. 155


smoothly. One day, during the time that she was sitting in the

garden, the old pair were seated on a high perch, cheek by jowl,

barely a yard away from the nest. Suddenly she came ont and,,

with all the effrontery and vulgar assurance of a Hagar, plumped

herself down on the unoccupied side of the male and solicited

food. Now a man is a very patient being, and can stand a great

deal ; but there are limits even to his endurance. When he is

alone, well, a visit from No. 2 may be endurable ; but for No. 2

unblushingly to link on to his left arm while No. 1 is hanging on

to his right is going a little too far. Virtuously holding his head

aloft in indignant protest, and looking painfully shocked, the

male slowly opened his mouth, and she, like a shot, dabbed her

mouth in. With all the suddenness of a steel trap, his mandibles

snapped upon hers, and she, in her turn, was caught. Dangling

in the air, in vain she struggled and kicked like any suffragette,

and something like a half-minute must have elapsed ere she fell

fluttering to the ground. Instantly gathering herself together,

she scuttled back to her nest with more speed than dignity ; and

many weeks passed before she again trusted herself to his tender

mercies. The incident, or rather its result, is of value as it

proves that a solitary female can and will rear at any rate one

young one without receiving the usual regurgitated food from

the male.


After young have left the nest, sometimes two will begin

to keep company at quite an early age; and when once two have

taken up with one another, although still children, they remain

true to one another, and almost immediately commence to set up

housekeeping together. Towards evening, they may be seen

hunting about for a suitable unoccupied sleeping box. If it

prove acceptable, they will continue to occupy and eventually

will nest in it. If they like it not, each afternoon they may be

seen searching diligently for a new place, until they find one to

their liking. Thus it is that, while they live in communities,

and regularly congregate and feed together, yet they scatter in

pairs over the forest in order to find separate sleeping and nesting

quarters. I particularly notice that each declared pair of birds

strive to the uttermost to settle down at some spot which is far

removed from any other home.



