174



The Marquis of Tavistock,



a Bauer’s Parrakeet turned up with his Barnard wife at the Mealy’s

favourite feeding tray. A battle followed, and next morning I found,

to my disgust, that the Mealy had had his upper mandible bitten

clean off at the root, so of course nothing remained but to catch

the poor fellow and put an end to his sufferings. That was the last

of the Bauer’s misdeeds and he paid for it by forfeiting his liberty.

He was a handsome bird and a model parent, but he dearly loved a

row and his tactics were murderous. Only a few days before I

caught him up, I was attracted by a tremendous whistling to a

hollow tree in which a pair of Yellow-naped Parrakeets had shown

an inclination to nest. On coming up I found the Bauer and

Barnard and the two Yellow-napes having a most tremendous battle

and apparently enjoying it hugely. They fought in the branches,

and they fought in the air, and, finally, they fell to the ground to

continue the conflict on terra-firma with undiminished zest. When

I left them, for I could not wait to see the end, the two cocks were

rolling over and over in a heap, while a few feet away their wives

sparred savagely with each other for a favourable opening. No

damage was done on this occasion, for the Yellow-napes were as

skilful fighters as the Bauer, and ended, like he, in suffering the

penalty of exile for beak-biting and murder.''


To return to the Mealies, of which only one now remained :

deprived of her mate, she and the Brown’s struck up a warm spinster

friendship such as occurs not infrequently among birds of various

orders. The couple even went so far as to explore nesting-holes to¬

gether, the Brown’s on these occasions playing the cock’s part of

preliminary investigator and appraiser of the premises under con¬

sideration. There are, by the way, few more amusing sights than

that afforded by a pair of Broadtail Parrakeets house-hunting at

liberty. The male bird always takes the lead, and after the most

superficial and inadequate inspection of some cavity in a tree or

building, will spend hours in proclaiming the surpassing excellence

of his find, even though his wife has been well aware at the end of

the first minute that the hole is for some obvious reason wholly im-



One wonders whether this destructive warfare goes on in Australia, since

Lord Tavistock’s birds had all the advantages of the wild ones.—ED.



