on Ring-necked Parrakeets at large in Hampshire. 109


"birds with that of Pigeons, Martins, Swifts and Hawks, I unhesitatingly

say that the four species just enumerated are ‘not in it.’ The Parrots

‘ have it ’ by a long chalk. They are not accustomed to keep on the wing

for any great length of time; but they go at an astonishing rate, and

‘chatter all the way.’ I11 clear, cold weather, they rise to great heights

—quite as lofty as that at which the Swifts ordinarily fly—and then make

for a certain point. The cock and lien fly close together.


“ Though the birds in my possession are fully paired, and admirable

friends when at liberty, yet experience proves that it is undesirable for

them to' occupy the same cage. Consequently they have separate cages.

There is ample and exalted precedent for all this. The fact is the cock is

somewhat tyrannical. He keeps his ‘ Missus ’ in first-rate order. Outside

he is a perfect angel.


“ One of the prettiest sights is to see the cock feeding the hen. This

takes place either on the grass or on the branch of a tree. The prelude to

the fact is exceedingly graceful. First the cock advances toward his mate,

and retires, then again an advance is made, and then a retrograde move¬

ment, and, then, arching his neck above that of his wife, the two beaks are

united.


“I have never taken much pains to make my ‘specimens’

accomplished linguists. The conditions under which they are kept

preclude their becoming apt orators, though both of them do “ orate.” If

you want a Parrot to become a great talker, you must keep him iu a small

cage, and cover him up a good deal, until he has learnt the lesson you are

desirous of instilling. So with Canaries and other song birds, I believe.

But I am quite content with them as they are. Oddly enough, however,

the hen is a more proficient linguist than the cock. Sometimes she will sit

on the branch of a tree or the sill of a window—looking at herself in a

glass—and repeat, with evident satisfaction, all the short sentences she has

ever learnt.


“ Half a mile from my house my Churchwarden and his wife and

family reside. My feathered friends are very fond of visiting at Yew Tree

Cottage; in fact, when the cock and hen have exceeded their ordinary time

for roosting, I always charge the former with ‘gallivanting with Mrs.

Taylor.’ Well, there is always a plentiful supply of fruit at this house in

the summer, and in the autumn a plethora of holly' berries and haws, to

both of which they are partial. One day I called at Yew Tree Cottage, in

■company with ‘ Bill,’ a fine bull terrier. We had been preceded by the

two Parrots which were busily employed iu devouring holly berries.

Directly Bill and I appeared on the scene down flew the cock-bird at my

feet from the holly bush, and looking up in my face in a sagacious manner,

•exclaimed twice, ‘ Well, here’s old Bill! ’ He never used the expression

before, and has never used it since.



