Some Hints on Par rot-Keeping .



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however, sometimes met with and I once owned a charming tame

female which never screamed at all. At liberty Roseates are very

attractive and are less mischievous than White Cockatoos. They

are, however, difficult to start, and it is important that the

hens, at any rate, should be perfectly tame where an acclimati¬

zation experiment is attempted. The birds should be placed in an

enclosure with cut wings, and it may even be necessary to keep

them from flying until they breed, which they are usually quite

willing to do if they have plenty of room and unlimited quantities

of grass to feed on<


If the plan is successful and the birds stay when they are

full-winged, it is a wise precaution to catch up the breeding hens at

the end of every January and keep them in confinement for three

months. Otherwise they are almost certain to attempt to nest too

early and in consequence die egg-bound.


The cock Rose-breast has the iris black, the hen red or hazel.

Gang-gang Cockatoo ( Gallocephalon g aleatum). Hardy

when properly acclimatized, but at first very sensitive to cold.


Gang-gang's become very affectionate pets, but are noisy and

seldom learn to talk. They should never, when caged, be allowed

hemp or sunflower seed. They stay and do well at liberty, but

must be released cut-winged, except in the case of an adult pair,

when the cock may sometimes be released full-winged and his mate

not allowed to join him until he has been flying loose for some

months. The head of the cock is scarlet, that of the hen grey.


Banksian Cockatoo ( Calyptoriiyncus bank,si). —Food : —

hemp, sunflower, monkey-nuts and Brazil nuts—a diet which would

kill most Cockatoos in a few weeks, but on which this splendid bird

thrives admirably. Fruit, bread and green food is seldom appre¬

ciated, but smooth caterpillars are eaten greedily as well as the

small white grubs found inside oak-apples. (In collecting the oak-

apples reject all those which have a small round hole, marking the

insect’s exit). Wasp grubs, gentles and mealworms are usually re¬

fused. When buying a Black Cockatoo always be sure to find out

to what diet the bird has been accustomed, for if it has ever been

used to sunflower-seed it will often starve to death rather than touch

hemp and vice-versa. Some Banksians are imported on plain Canary



