16 LEADBEATER'S COCKATOO. 



hempseed, biscuit, carrot, and green food of every description, not 

 forgetting plenty of water, but never, on any account, meat or milk. 

 If it be desired to try and get a pair to breed, a few mealworms, or 

 daddy-long-legs may be added to the ordinary diet, but even these 

 should never be offered to a solitary Leadbeater, kept as a pet in a 

 cage, or chained to an ordinary Parrot-stand: for the effect of animal 

 food upon these birds is to excite them to such a degree that, where 

 they are unable to gratify their inclinations in the natural way, they, 

 very frequently, turn to and strip themselves of every feather they 

 can reach; which, we need scarcely observe, gives them a miserable, 

 poverty- struck, woe-begone, appearance that is the reverse of pre- 

 possessive. 



A Leadbeater, properly looked after, is not by any means a delicate 

 bird, but is perfectly well able, as many who have kept it can attest, 

 to pass even our severest winter out of doors, not only with impunity, 

 but actually in the enjoyment of far more robust and perfect health, 

 than if he had been cared for and coddled up in-doors. 



Of draughts, however, he, in common with every bird, delicate or. 

 hardy, is exceedingly impatient: a few minutes exposure to a cold 

 current of air, being sufficient to induce an attack of bronchitis, or of 

 inflammation of the lungs and bowels : all which maladies are far more 

 readily prevented than cured. Out of doors, in a comfortable aviary, 

 abrupt transitions of temperature are, usually, productive of no bad 

 effects; but in the house it is different, so that care must be taken that 

 a pet bird be not exposed to such depressing influences, or the con- 

 sequences may be, promptly, disastrous to the last degree. 



