56 F. D. Welch—An Amusing Amazon, and also a Parrakeet


after breaking the tenth commandment many times, I reluctantly

tore myself away from these fascinating aviaries to return to the house,

passing on the way another aviary in which I noticed Golden Pheasants,

a Siamese Fire Back, and three fine Monauls. Too quickly Monday

morning came, and I had to leave hospitable Brinsop and its many

delights, and as I drove through the fore-court and over the moat,

I turned back to see the last of the lovely old house and the pink of the

Flamingoes as they stood motionless in the water, and thought of the

Queen of Sheba after her visit to King Solomon, who returned to her

own home with no heart left in her.



AN AMUSING AMAZON, AND ALSO A

PARRAKEET


By Frederick D. Welch


A relative of mine used to keep a Blue-fronted Amazon, which

I frequently saw between 1890 and 1910, which shows that this species

will live at least twenty years and probably very much longer,

a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo having lived ninety odd years, so I was

informed in 1901 by a patient in Maidstone about one at his house.

This Amazon used to perform some amusing antics, of which readers

of the Avicultural Magazine may like to hear.


The shutters in the dining-room used to be closed by a handle,

which being turned slid them out, so to speak, from an excavation

within the wall, and were made with a mirror on their inner sides,

which reflected things in the room. The Amazon used to be let out

of its cage most evenings for exercise, its favourite method of

locomotion being to walk backwards along the floor, and when it saw

the reflection of itself in the mirror-windows it used during the end

of December and first half of January to advance with an excited

chuckle and begin moving much like the action of a dove in courting.

This chuckling was made in quite a soft voice, and was never made,

to my knowledge, except during those months. It seemed to me to

be undoubtedly a display of breeding affection. There was nothing

known for certainty about the bird’s history previous to its arrival at



