44 Mrs. Johnstone,


THE NESTING OF

TRICHOGLOSSUS JOHNSTONIsE.


By Mrs. Johnstone.


An interesting account of the importation of these Lori-

keets, by Mr. Walter Goodfellow, was published in the January

number of this magazine, and makes a description of these birds

and their native home unnecessary, so I must take up their Life

Story from the time they reached my hands.


Three birds reached me alive — a fourth reached England

but died at the Docks — one of the three looked like dying, but

after twenty-four hours care and warmth, quite recovered. They

were turned into their new quarters about November in last year

and lived in perfect peace and friendship until February, when

signs of a break up of the happy party were to be noticed. Two

of the birds kept much together, roosted together, and together

combined in making the life of the third bird a burden and

misery. She — for it turned out to be a female — was chased,

pecked, and not allowed to feed, until fearing fatal results, she

was moved into the next aviary, and so the pair had the place to

themselves.


The aviary measures 10 ft. square by 8 ft. high, with a

small outside flight, the inside aviary has several fir boughs

nailed up, the outside a few perches, but no growing trees.

Amongst the inside perches a cocoa nut husk was fixed, and on

the wall one or two nesting boxes of different patterns. The

pair of Lorikeets billed and cooed, otherwise made funny little

twittering sounds, and played like kittens, or as only Lories and

Lorikeets can do. The cock fed the hen and the pair roosted

together in the cocoa nut husk, out of which they had scratched

most of the fibre. This went on for about three weeks, when a

change was noticeable in the behaviour of the cock. This fickle

fellow now spent much of his time talking to the odd Lorikeet

in the next division, the very bird he had so cruelly ill used a

few weeks previously. He and she were always to be seen

chattering, scrambling up and down the wires, and generally

disporting themselves like two sad and separated lovers ; the

poor little deserted hen sitting inside the aviary looking the



