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The Marquis of Tavistock,



Pennant’s Parrakeet (. Platycercus elegans). —Sexes are'

alike in colour, but hens very readily distinguishable by the small adult

size of the head. Young birds on leaving the nest are a dark leaf

green with a little red on the throat and forehead, blue cheek patches

and some blue in the wings and tail. In securing a pair of Pennants

for turning out make sure that the cock is a steady old show bird

well used to cage life and the ways of the world generally. Newly -

imported, immature or out-door aviary birds, ai’e a vexation of the

spirit as they stay well for many months and then depart on the

approach of the breeding season. When in poor condition, Pennants

are very susceptible to septic fever.


Adelaide Parrakeet (Platycercus adelaidce). — Sexes much

alike, but very red birds are nearly always hens. The young are

decidedly smaller than young Pennants of the same age and of a

more golden olive colour. Adelaides do fairly well at liberty.


Barnardius Parrakeet. —Closely allied to the typical

Platycerci their food and treatment should be the same.


Barnard’s Parrakeet ( Barnarclius barnardi). —A very

beautiful bird and not particularly dangerous in mixed company.

Beak of the hen much smaller than that of the cock and her colours,

usually, though not invariably, duller and showing less blue. Barnard’s

do well at liberty but the young are apt to stray to great distances

from their birth place and eventually fail to return.


Bauer’s Parrakeet ( Barnardius zonarius). — Typical

specimens have the lower breast almost entirely yellow and have no

red on the forehead. The hens are easily distinguished by the

small size of their head and beak. Bauer’s are most dangerous

neighbours for other quarrelsome Parrakeets likely to fight with

them and even at liberty will often inflict fatal injuries by biting

deeply into the upper mandible of an adversary and sometimes

tearing it completely off. Half-tame birds are best for turning out.


Yellow-Collared or Port Lincoln Parrakeet

(Barnardius semitorquatus). —Typical examples have the lower breast

pale green and some red feathers at the base of the upper mandible,

but intermediate forms between this species and P. zonarius are

very common and are of no fixed type. The hen Port Lincoln is

less easy to tell from the cock than the hen Bauer and the sexes-



