118 Birds I Have Kept. 



and a patch of bluish red occupies the region of the rump, 

 extending some distance up the back; a peonliarity of colouring 

 which has given to this bird its most usual English name. 

 The two central tail feathers are blue towards their extremities, 

 the others bluish green. 



The female is rather smaller than her mate, and is greyish 

 green, or rather greyish olive green, the hack and rump are 

 bright green, and the under surface of the body yellowish 

 grey. 



The Redrump is a native of most parts of Australia, except 

 the west. Like most of the members of the Parrot family, 

 it nests in hollow boughs, laying three or four white eggs, 

 intermediate in size between those of a Budgerigar and those 

 of a Cockateel: the young resemble their parents, but the 

 youthful males are duller in colour than their father. 



Dr. Euss recommends that during the breeding season they 

 should be supplied with "egg-bread, ants' eggs, boiled rice, 

 and fruit, mealworms, green food and poppy-seed." It seems 

 almost presumptuous to differ from so eminent an authority, 

 but I have found oats and soaked bread a suflScient addition 

 to the ordinary diet of canary, miUet, and hemp seed. Green 

 food my birds are never without. 



The feathers of the Redrump come out on the least handling, 

 but grow again very rapidly : it is a perfectly hardy bird, 

 and may be safely kept out of doors all the year round. 



A pair I once kept in an enclosure along with some bantam 

 chickens, would run to the old hen whenever she called her 

 brood, of which she evidently thought they formed a part, 

 for she never interfered with them even when they chased 

 and pecked her children, as they often did. 



The "song" of the male is a low and rather sweet warble, 

 somewhat more sustained than that of the Budgerigar, and 

 as Mr. "Wiener says "is quite surprisingly agreeable." I 

 imagine the Redrump might be taught to speak, but not 

 having tried the experiment, I cannot say for certain. 



