Some Hints on Parrot-Keeping.



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(3) Trustworthy neighbours who can see an unfamiliar bird without

instantly trying to shoot it.


A really thick spruce wood provides about the best form of

winter cover, but any kind of tall, dense evergreen will answer the

purpose well enough. Abies orientalis gives even better shelter than

abies excelsa, but is seldom found planted in any other way than as

a single specimen tree.


For nesting purposes English trees unfortunately appear to

furnish very indifferent accommodation, especially for Long-tailed

Parrakeets, which will sometimes spend many weeks in an unsuc¬

cessful search after a home to suit their taste, and finally leave the

neighbourhood in disgust never to return.


Very old oaks, elms, beeches and poplars are most likely to

provide Parrots with habitable quarters, and where these are absent

some good may be done by fixing up artificial nest barrels. These

should alwavs be placed as far from the ground as possible, and

where small or medium-sized birds are kept they should have

entrance holes narrow enough to keep out Brown and White Owls,

which are apt to play havoc among the nestling and sitting hens.


To exclude a Barn Owl the hole should not be more than

2f-inches in diameter ; to exclude a Brown Owl 3|-inches, 2-f-inches

will keep out a Jackdaw, and 2|-inches a Little Owl.


Cockatoos, the larger Parrakeets, and, in fact, most members

of the Parrot family are usually, in the first instance, best turned

with cut wings into a roomy grass enclosure out of which they

cannot climb. If released full-winged they are more than likely to

be lost at once, but where the other plan is adopted their powers of

flight are restored gradually during the course of the moult, and they

are for a long time only capable of going short distances in the

neighbourhood of their home.


The enclosure, w 7 hich should contain no valuable trees or

shrubs (since cut-winged Parrots are ten times more destructive

than those which are able to fly) must be provided with plenty of

branches for the birds to perch on, good temporary shelter from rain

and wind, and a feeding tray of the same pattern as those on which

the birds will find their seed after they have scattered about the

wood or garden in which it is hoped that they will make their home.



