071 the Breeding of the Black-cheeked Lovebird. 319


other three species ( A. fischeri , perso 7 iata , and swhidereiiiana )

mentioned in the Catalogue are, or were when vol. XX was

published, supposed to be alike ; and I understand that the same

may be said of A. liliaiue. Concerning A. zenkeri (Handlist II.,

p. 35), I am without information. It might appear, therefore, that,

if any apparent differences in plumage between the sexes of the

subject under consideration do exist, we might expect to find

them somewhere in the region of the face or of the under wing-

coverts.


As regards the under wing-coverts, I think we had better

withhold judgment for the present. Further examinations are

needed.


But possibly the metacarpal edge may help us—yellow in

the male and green in the female. My birds are flying about and

nesting, and cannot be closely inspected ; and my eyes are old ;

so I must leave it to others to look into this and other points.


The shading and extent of the colours which occupy the

upper part of the head, from the cere to the hind-neck, and also

the sides of the face, are elusive and aggravating. It is com¬

paratively easy, when one has a couple or a series of skins, to lay

them out on a table side by side, in a good light, and make

remarks and draw conclusions, but try it with living examples,

not seen together perhaps, in any or no light, bobbing up and

down and turning hither and thither! Moreover, in the Black-

cheeked Lovebird, the shades of colour in this region differ

according to the light, and according to the angle at which one

sees them. I was much struck, one day, while looking down at

the nestlings from above —in a poor light. The elder two turned

restive, and stretched their heads up towards the opening at the

side-top of their domed nest, as if meditating a bolt. The sinci¬

put of one seemed to be of a deep blackish colour, of the other

not blackish but brown. Assuming that the one was some two

days older than the other, yet the extra two days’ development of

feathers which for over a week had seemed to be fully grown

would hardly be sufficient of itself to account for the difference.

When these two appeared as fledgelings in the aviary, the differ¬

ence in colouring was almost imperceptible—but I take them to

be male and female, so perhaps there is something in it, and that



