200



On Parrakects.



Conures I have also found indifferent to cold, although not

so fond of bathing as the Platycerci ; and a pair of Blue Bonnets

proved as hardy as an} r of them.


But Turquoisines and Elegants, although I believe coming

from the more northerly portions of the Australian Continent,

cannot endure exposure to severe weather, and ought to

be taken indoors as winter approaches. I once lost three

Turquoisines in one night through sudden cold. I remember

we had a very warm late summer and I had been lulling

myself into the belief that the weather would continue warm

and open and that winter was far off, when suddenly, one night

late in October, there came an alarming drop of many degrees

in the temperature, and when I went down to my aviary in the

morning, after having spent a wretched night fearing the worst,

I missed the shrill whistle with which one of the cocks always

greeted my appearance, and not being able to see more than three

Turquoisines I searched among the bushes and found two cocks

and a hen lying on the ground, killed by the cold. I immediately

caught up the others and the Elegants, and never after did I

leave them out of doors later than September.


How is it that there are no Turquoisines or Elegants

to be obtained now? They are among the most desirable of

all Parrakeets from an avicultural point of view, and if taken

indoors in September, even if placed in a room, the temperature

of which is kept just above freezing point, and turned out

again late in May, they will give no trouble whatever, and if an

aviary is devoted entirely to the species they will breed as easily

as either Cockatiels or Rosellas. They are very impatient of

the presence of other birds in their vicinity, and unless the

aviary is very large, no young need be looked for unless an

aviary is entirely devoted to them.


I was never successful in getting my Blue Bonnets to

nest, and should like to know whether they have ever bred in

this country. They are charming little birds, and seem to be

as scarce as either Turquoisines or Elegants now.


The Blue Mountain Tories have also proved quite hardy



Probably for that very reason, the northerly portion being the hottest.—A. G. B.



