336 Note on the Breeding of Palceornis mag?iirostris.


think these birds would ever go to nest in a small breeding pen

(of course I may be wrong); they seem to need a fair amount

of room, and the birds they are associated with must not be

valuable ones, nor must any other nesting be expected. I think,

however, the above notes will show that a large aviary is not

required and that interference with the nest is not resented if

care has been taken to get the birds thoroughly tame and

familiar.


I have not said anything about methods, because my very

scanty experience relates only to one species, and, seeing that

this great family includes such an enormous range of species,

some being largely seed eaters (some ornithologists would even

class these with the Fringillidce ), and some, as the little Violet

Tanager, almost exclusively fruit eaters, it is evident that methods

would have to differ in almost every case.



A NOTE ON THE BREEDING OF PAL^ORNIS

MAGNIROSTRIS.


By H. Boughton-Leigh.


I have been successful this year in breeding the Great¬

billed Andaman Parrakeet (.Palczornis ?nagnirostris).


Last summer I bought a very fine pair of this species from

a dealer and put them into an out-door aviary by themselves.

This summer the hen laid two eggs from which two young ones

were hatched. The nest was a poplar log, partly hollow, set up

on end with a hole at the side and a board over the top. The

cock bird did not sit on the eggs at all; so differing from my

cock Riugneclc Parrakeet (P. torquatus) which sits on the nest

beside the hen almost continuously through the period of

incubation, going off only to feed.


The young birds were brought up on seed only—canary

with a little hemp or sunflower. One left the nest fully fledged

on the third of this month, the other three days later. Their

plumage is exactly like that of the adult hen, except that their

tails are shorter, and their shoulder spots smaller and of a duller

tint.



