70 The Marquess of Tavistock—A Satisfactory Bird


on the roof of his mate’s aviary, having transferred himself so quickly

and silently that I could hardly believe I was looking at the same bird.


Every morning I used to take round a few grapes to distribute as

titbits. Kings are enormous eaters of fruit and green food and the

cock was usually waiting to receive his share. Occasionally I used to

find him foraging about on the ground under the thick bushes ; he

w T as the only one of my Parrakeets to do this, all the others keeping

entirely to the trees or feeding on the open turf. Palceornis Parrakeets

are wholly arboreal and so are Crimson-wings, anyhow during the

winter. Platycerci feed a certain amount on the ground, especially

during the breeding season ; the same applies to Barrabands and even

more to typical Psephoti.


As a rule the King roosted in the bushes near the hen’s aviary, but

occasionally he got temporarily imprisoned in another aviary which

was arranged to catch the Barrabands every night to protect them from

the attacks of the Brown Owl. Fortunately, however, the King comes

in the category of those birds which are safe from the night marauder,

whose crimes in the matter of bird murder are fully as great as those of

his much abused relative, the Little Owl, who hunts by day and leaves

more traces of his repast. I fancy the Brown Owl’s many ardent

admirers would be astonished if they knew the extent to which birds—

and quite large birds — formed part of its winter menu, but its undoubted

destruction of numbers of young rats is certainly a virtue to cover a

multitude of sins. On the first of March I thought it time to catch up

the King for the breeding season. I put his mate in a parrot-cage and

opened the aviary door, and in a very short time he was in beside her

and showed little annoyance at the loss of his liberty.


Although the subject of this article is an unusually accommodating

bird, I do not think the owner of any properly mated pair of Kings

need fear to give the cock his liberty for part of the year, provided

the aviary is well placed where there is no danger of the birds missing

each other when one is released. Last winter I was successful in

keeping cock Crimson-wings at liberty, but although the Crimson-wing

is even more beautiful than the King, he is less attached to his mate,

a wider ranger, rather spiteful with other Parrakeets, and perhaps not

altogether safe from Owls, being not very large, and having only a small

beak with which to defend himself.



