74



The Marquis op Tavistock,



present unable to describe in language sufficiently temperate to

appear in the pages of the magazine. This is, I think, due not so

much to the stay-at-home qualities of Adelaides in general, as to the

fact that I was particularly fortunate in my first pair which happened

to be endowed wfitli more sense than others of their kind have sub¬

sequently proved to possess. Their history is as follows :—


In the summer of 1911 I bought from a dealer three young

Adelaides, which appeared to be about twelve months old. They were

in rather poor condition, but on being turned, with cut wings, into a

sunny grass enclosure, they improved steadily, and in a few weeks time

had moulted into adult plumage and were flying about the garden.

One of them wandered away and was picked up dead in an orchard,

too much decomposed for the cause of its death to be ascertainable;

but the survivors, which proved to be a cock and a hen, continued to

stay and throve well. They did not, however, appear to care much

for each other’s company and the hen ultimately paired with a

Pennant. During the course of that winter I bought another

Adelaide, in fine condition, together with his mate, a hen Kosella.

Not then possessing the knowledge with which bitter experience has

since endowed me, I let the pair out together, full-winged. They

stayed for a few days, then the wandering spirit, which is character¬

istic of her kind, asserted itself in the Rosella and she vanished—

and the Adelaide with her. After that, matters ran an uneventful

course until the end of March, when one day I received the dis¬

agreeable information that the cock Adelaide had been picked up

with a broken wing. Wc put him iu a cage, intending' to keep him

safe and well fed, until Nature had repaired the injury, He, how¬

ever, was of opinion that the healing hand of Nature would work

better outside a parrot cage than inside, for, three days later, he

squeezed himself through the bars and disappeared entirely. We

watched for him on the ground feeding trays, but he never came and

was soon given up for dead. What was our surprise, therefore, when

about a month later he suddenly turned up again as strong and well

as ever, except for a slightly ‘ dropped ’ wing, which did not interfere

seriously with his powers of flight. His miraculous return not only

surprised us, but it also, apparently, made a favourable impression

on the hen Adelaide, who deserted her alien husband and took up



