INTRODUCTION. ix 



A knowledge of the habits of birds, to be gained, however, mainly by 

 experience, will tell the aviarist what species he may safely cage together, 

 and a fertile source of loss be thus avoided. The same may be said with 

 respect to suitable and unsuitable food, comfortable dwelling-places, and 

 appropriate nesting accommodation. Upon the question of cleanliness we 

 will not insult our readers by touching; but many aviarists, especially be- 

 ginners, are too apt to overcrowd their birds, and many, and dire misfortunes 

 spring from this cause alone. 



It is eminently undesirable to keep the larger Parrots in the same enclosure 

 with the dwarf members of the race; Rosy Cockatoos, for instance, with 

 Budgerigars, or Blue Mountain Lories with Madagascar White-heads; while 

 the latter will be unsafe neighbours for the pretty little Blue-wings, the 

 smallest and most charming members of the Agapornis sub-family, which 

 had better either be placed in an aviary by themselves, or consorted with 

 the tiny Astrilds, often, but erroneously, named Ornamental Finches. 



Few amateurs have facilities for keeping the larger Parrots and Cockatoos 

 in any numbers, so as to ensure the profitable breeding of these in many 

 ways desirable birds ; their comparatively huge dimensions necessitate a wide 

 • accommodation, and their noisy outcries preclude the possibility of their 

 being kept anywhere but in a remote country district, far beyond the reach 

 of neighbouring sensitive human ears: to keep a flock of Cockatoos in a 

 town, or even village, would entail upon the rash individual who made the 

 attempt, attentions similar to those bestowed upon the cat-loving Countess 

 at Kensington, whose pro-feline proclivities have more than once formed 

 the subject of a judicial investigation. Still the Great Sulphur-Crested Cocka- 

 too has been successfully bred in Germany, and, but for an untoward accident, 

 we have no doubt we should have bred Goffm's Cockatoo. On the whole, 

 however, except in very special cases, the aviarist will do well to confine 

 his attention to breeding Parrakeets, which may be preserved without offence 

 to neighbours of a different taste, and are also more readily provided for 

 in the way of suitable habitations, than the owners of beaks of such for- 

 midable dimensions and tremendous power as the Macaws and the greater 

 Cockatoos. 



The present volume of Parrots in Captivity is, so to speak, tentative, but 

 should this attempt in the direction of familiarising the public with a most 

 delightful class of birds, have the success we hope for, and which the 

 efforts of our enterprising publisher, who has spared neither pains nor ex- 

 pense to make the work as attractive as possible, seem to warrant us in 

 expecting, we propose to continue the subject, if not to exhaustion, at least 

 to the extent of three or four volumes more. 



En attendant, we must express our obligation to the kind friends whose 

 assistance has been instrumental in making the work what it is; nor can 

 we overlook the efforts of the artist, whose life-like portraits of the various 

 birds have added so much to its usefulness and attractiveness: in almost 

 every instance the plates have been drawn and coloured from life, and are 



