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The Marquis of Tavistock,



end she left him and wandered away altogether. Her loss did not

distress him at all, for some time before he had joined some red-

collared lorikeets, of which at that time I possessed a small flock.

Now a lorikeet, though a model of social virtues where its own kind

are concerned, is most vicious and aggressive towards all other

parrots and the snubs which the rosella received were many and

severe. Nothing however could shake his faith in the idea that the

unappreciative lorikeets would come to admire him some day, and

when digestive troubles had reduced their number to one, he accom¬

panied the suivivor all through the winter until it, too, joined the

majority. On the death of his companion the rosella vanished.


The rest were more fortunate. The extmius cock and his

mate first attempted to nest in a chimney with the result that she

made a sudden and unexpected descent into a room, arriving soot-

begrimed and with a cut forehead. After this unpleasant experience

she betook herself to a hollow elm where four young' were success¬

fully reared. A second attempt at nesting unhappily ended in

disaster, for the hen disappeared a few weeks after she had begun

to sit and must have met with some untimely end.


The yellow-mantle and his wife also nested and reared a

solitary daughter.


Young rosellas are very like their parents, but they have

much more green on the wing and less blue, and a green band runs

from the nape of the neck right up on to the crown. By mid-winter

it is fairly easy to distinguish the sexes, and they breed, like most

other broadtails, when a year old, but full adult plumage is not

assumed for about eighteen months.


The correct method of sexing rosellas has proved a subject of

controversy. Personally I have no faith in the “green spot ” test,

and flatter myself that I can always distinguish a hen by the small

size and ragged edging of the red bib. An observant aviculturist

tells us that adult hens differ from cocks in having white spots on

some of the flight feathers, but, if I am not mistaken, he also says

that this test cannot be applied to young birds.


My rosellas, old and young, flourished until November when

a tragedy occurred for which I was myself responsible. One morn¬

ing I noticed the yellow-mantle on the feeding tray, looking, as I



