on the Breeding of the Black-cheeked Lovebird. 325


here and in a few other instances, but probably the young

that have been fully reared in this country may be numbered 011

the fingers of one hand. My Red-faced Lovebirds made but very

poor and scanty nests ; they were never seen while carrying

materials, so I am unable to say how they conveyed to their log

the very little that was there. This species is sadly handicapped

by having had its wings cut before it reaches our shores, by the

tainted and often diseased condition (due to overcrowding) in

which it generally arrives, and too often by the injudicious treat¬

ment to which it is occasionally subjected after arrival:—it was

■“ Trade ” one dealer was at pains to explain to me ; but a trade

custom which, for the sake of expediting their sale, injures the

birds is of questionable morality and a short-sighted policy. A

thoroughly sound healthy pair of Red-faced Lovebirds, strong on

the ruing and with the muscles, &c., of the wing unstrained , is a

possession to be proud of, a fact which wonderfully few people

are aware of, and last of all judges at the Bird Shows and certain

other “ authorities.”


The Rosy-faced Lovebird may be bred rather easily. For

an account of its nesting, and mode of carrying materials, see the

Avicultural Magazine for July, 1896. The difficulty with this

species is to obtain a true pair.



Let us now turn to the nesting of my Black-cheeked Love¬

birds. Their surroundings here are artificial, not as I should

wish them to be, for oilier birds have possession of my best sum¬

mer aviary; so the following must be taken as an account of the

breeding of these individual birds in a particular place, not

necessarily as a typical case of the species.


These two birds came into my hands on the ninth day of

the month of fools—happily April 1st had been safely tided over

before they arrived—and were placed in a small cage in my

dining-room. They shed a few feathers, and seemed to be just

finishing off their moult. On the 25th, I noticed that both of

them were passing bits of spray millet sideways backwards and

forwards between their mandibles. I knew well what that meant,

and immediately transferred them to a rather large box cage, in a

screened corner of which I placed a nesting-log, and supplied



