M. Amsler—Breeding of the King Parrakeet



163



BREEDING OF THE KING PARRAKEET


By M. Amsler, M.B.


Although the King is not a very rare species, and is found either

singly or in pairs in most large collections, I believe I am right in thinking

that the successful rearing of young is a somewhat unusual occurrence.


In the first place hens are not very easily come by, a good many

supposed hens being males in immature plumage. As the males take

three years to develop their distinctive plumage this, in itself, may cause

the hopeful aviculturist no inconsiderable delay. Furthermore, the hen

King Parrakeet appears very loth to make use of a nest-box. In the

wild state the species chooses the hollow limb of some tall and rotten

tree ; the entrance hole may thus be at a height of 30 or 40 feet and the

actual nest almost at the ground level. In captivity it is obviously

impossible to provide a nest-box more than 3 or 4 feet long, and

this may account for the birds’ unwillingness to make use of the usual

type of nest-box with which they are provided. My pair of birds came

to me from Sir Leo Chiozza Money in 1920 with a rather bad character,

the hen had either laid and refused to sit, or had not used a box and

thus spoiled the eggs—I forget which.


These birds spent the winter and early spring in a fair-sized aviary,

together with a pair of Blue and Black Jays ; they paid little attention

to each other, but devoted all their spare time to destroying what few

bushes the aviary contained. In April I put the pair in a small all-wire

flight, 10 ft. by 4 ft., provided with two types of nest-box. One a deep

box about 3 feet long, with a hole near the top and a concave wooden

bottom ; the other was also about 3 feet in length, but was laid

horizontally and had one end open to allow the birds to enter—to my

mind the latter was an ideal box. These boxes I have lately removed,

and I do not believe either bird ever entered them, as the sawdust which

I placed inside was not even disturbed, and there was not a feather

or other sign of a bird having inhabited either nest.


Knowing their species’ propensity for laying on the ground I also

provided a half coco-nut husk cemented into a box and buried flush

with the surface of the ground. In May the birds were seen pairing,

and the cock was constantly dancing round the hen and being generally



