on red rosellas at liberty.



337



thought, a trifle puffy. I deliberated for a time whether I should

catch him up or not and finally decided to do so as he was a valuable

bird I could ill afford to lose from an ordinary chill, so I pulled

the string which closed the trap-tray. When I went up to him he

seemed lively enough, but directly after I had transferred him to a

cage he staggered, coughed, gave a shiver and fell forward—dead. A

post-mortem showed that the falling sides of the tray had struck him

a severe blow, a danger I had always feared, but up to that time

had chanced successfully ; there was nothing else the matter with

him at all. My feelings can better be imagined than described.


After the death of the yellow-mantle, his widow joined the

family party of rosellas and proceeded to make herself agreeable to

the old cock. She was not popular with her prospective step¬

children, and was especially disliked by the young cock and by the

old cock’s favourite daughter, who for many weeks had been her

father’s chosen companion. A good deal of squabbling ensued, but

the widow meant business and won the day, finally bearing off the

old gentleman in triumph, while his family were left to their own

devices. The favourite daughter, unable to endure the spectacle of

her rival’s triumph and exasperated by the insults of her brother,

whom up to that time she had successfully bullied, took her de¬

parture. The young cock ended by pairing with the yellow-mantle’s

daughter and I bought, as a mate for the other young hen, a bird

which was exactly intermediate in colour between a yellow-mantle

and a typical rosella.


Towards the end of winter I had a spell of ill luck. The

yellow-mantle’s daughter was taken by an owl; later, the young

hen rosella started to nest, became egg'-bound, recovered, and then

presumably had a second attack and died, anyhow she vanished

completely. Her mate was found dead in a pond some time later.

Then the old hen became egg-bound and I caught her and saved her

by the hot room treatment, but her recovery was a matter of some

weeks. When she was really well again I turned her out with a

fresh mate and both went clean away at once. It was very dis¬

appointing, as when once a bird has grown really accustomed to a

place it will usually induce a strange mate to stay also.


The symptoms of egg-binding' in a parrakeet are a little



