172



The Mabquis of Tavistock,



in good health, he can only be described as a spiteful brute. His

two pet aversions are the Blue-bonnet and his near relative the Bed

Bosella. Alone among the Playcercinse he is often able to inspire

with fear and respect, the pert irascible little monkey in brown

and blue, while for the Bed Bosella he show's a most unbounded

contempt. Hybrids between P. pallidiceps and P. eximius have

been produced in captivity and may also have occurred wild in

Australia, but in my own experience I have never known the two

species show any desire to associate except when quite young.

Even when I have had odd birds of opposite sexes flying together at

liberty for several months, they have never been seen to meet except

on the most unfriendly terms.


In November, 1912,1 obtained my first Mealy Bosellas—two

adult pairs—and turned them into a warm aviary with some other

parrakeets, who had little cause to regard their arrival as a blessing.

One of the cocks was a rather lethargic bird, and I always thought

there was something wrong with him and quite expected that he

would die. However, he survived until the spring, when I cut the

wings of all four and turned them into a grass enclosure. Here

trouble began, for the stronger cock set upon his companion and

would probably have killed him if I had not come to the rescue. It

is nearly always the case that when two parrakeets have had their

wings cut the weaker bird is unable to escape in the event of a

serious fight. When he had recovered from his injuries, I placed

the victim in another enclosure, where he was promptly attacked

by a Bed Bosella, and again had to be saved from an untimely end.

As it was evident that the poor bird needed exercise and unlimited

green food more than his oppressors, I shut up the first cock Mealy

and obliged him, as a well-deserved penance, to watch from inside

a cage the spectacle of his rival enjoying, in the society of the tw T o

hens, the amenities of a semi-free existence. The treatment an¬

swered well as far as the invalid was concerned, and by the end

of the summer he had greatly improved, and was quite lively and

even bumptious. During September one of the hens moulted and

flew out of the enclosure, and as her mate in the cage was also

able to fly he was allowed to join her at liberty. Not long after¬

wards the second cock made his exit, and as his wife was rather



