On Ring-necked. Pa?'rakeets at large in Hampshire. 107


RING-NECKED PARRAKEETS AT LARGE IN

HAMPSHIRE.


The following very interesting story of a pair of Ring-necked

Parrakeets (Palceornis torquata) is the substance of a lecture delivered in

Lancashire by the Rev. H. P. Edge, Rector of Stratfield Turgiss, in

Hampshire,1 It was printed in the Hants, and Berks. Gazette , of September

12th, 1903, and has been brought to our notice by the President of this

.Society, who has obtained the Author’s permission for its publication in the

Avicultural Magazine.


“ Since the pair in my possession became mine they have never had

an hours illness. They are ‘never sick,’ and ‘never sorry,’ are ‘as

hardy as Pigeons,’ as ‘docile as dogs,’ and as faithful as Jonathan. During

the inclement weather experienced in January last they were housed in a

thatched coach-house, and were as serene and joyous in their surroundings

as they are in the month of June, when at liberty, and free to roam wherever

they choose. Their food consists of hemp seed, sunflower seed, melon

seed, fruit, soaked bread, etc., but under no circumstances is animal food

permitted. The subjects of this paper were about two months old when I

bought them. Though I have had them, now, for more than five years, I

have not seen the cock drink water more than half-a-dozen times, and then

only on hot, sultry days. The hen frequently drinks in the summer time,

and occasionally has a bath—which is provided for her—but I have never

yet seen the cock bird perform any ablutions in a bath, and yet the plumage

of both is perfect—as close and as glossy as that of any game cock in

‘fighting feather.’ It has been suggested that they bathe in the river

‘Loddon’ close by. I question it. In showery weather, however, they

perform the most fantastic evolutions in the trees. First depending from a

spray by one claw, they then spread out their tails and wings to receive the

moisture, very much after the fashion of Fantail Pigeons, though the

fashion of the Parrots is decidedly more graceful.


“ By the way. I have a pidture before me of one of these Parrakeets

holding a morsel of food in his right claw. A friend observed to me, two

years ago, that some writer on the habits of birds had stated that the

Parrot tribe rarely or never used the right claw to convey food to the beak.

After being supplied with this piece of information, I have narrowly

watched my two birds, and never yet seen them utilize their right claws.

The left are invariably used.


“ I11 the summer after my return from India in 1898, the cock and lieu

were placed in a large, though roughly constructed cage, which was

unfortunately, in the day time, placed in the open air, and, at night, as a

rule relegated to a coach-house which has a thatched roof. One morning a

hue and cry was raised that the cock had escaped from his quarters and



