136 MADAGASCAR LOVE-BIBB. 



ceeded in breeding these birds in their aviaries, but we have never 

 obtained young ones from ours; possibly because, not caring about the 

 birds, we did not take particular pains to induce them to breed. 



The Madagascar Love-birds have a custom, peculiar to the sub- 

 family to which they belong, of carrying small chips of wood, bits of 

 grass and fibre, scraps of paper even, and other rubbish into the boxes 

 or cocoa-nut husks they have elected to build in, and there make them- 

 selves a nest: Mr. Wiener relates that his birds carried these scraps 

 to her nest-box on her back ! a feat we have not yet seen attempted, 

 but which, nevertheless, appears to be their usual habit. 



The Love-birds in the several countries where they are found, feed 

 on various kinds of seed, and in confinement require, especially the 

 Eed-faced variety, that a portion at least of their food should be 

 soaked for them : their diet in captivity should consist mainly of canary 

 and millet, but hemp, oats, and maize (the small variety) should be 

 occasionally added: green food they are very partial to of all kinds, 

 and water is indispensable for their well-being: they do not bathe freely, 

 but, like the Budgerigar, prefer to roll themselves in long wet grass. 



All the varieties mentioned are sufficiently hardy to winter out of 

 doors, even in England, and we have seen the Madagascar voluntarily 

 roosting in the uncovered portion of the aviary, when the thermometer 

 stood at considerably below zero Fahr., without any appreciable injury, 

 and that when a good warm house was at his disposal, and most of 

 his congeners had availed themselves of the shelter it afforded them. 



The Eosy-faced, being the rarest, we have not tried out of doors, 

 but Dr. Euss thinks it not less hardy than the rest of the Agapornis 

 sub-family, of which the prettiest, gentlest, and most interesting mem- 

 ber is the Blue-winged Love-bird (Psittacus gregarius). 



Concerning A. coma, our esteemed correspondent Mrs. Cassirer writes 

 from Paris as follows: — "I have had four nests from my Whiteheads; 

 in each case the nesting material was carried as described by Dr. Euss 

 and Mr. Wiener, namely, stuck between the feathers of the back and 

 rump; so that the bird resembled a fretful porcupine. As ill-luck 

 will have it, none of the eggs have been hatched. Last year the male 

 bird was killed, and this year the male has been struck down with 

 paralysis in the middle of the second brood, from the hips downwards: 

 I presume from exhaustion from feeding the hen entirely for several 

 weeks. With careful nursing I have brought him round so far as 

 to enable him to sit on the perches again, but to my great regret 

 the hind claws bend forward, so that he is lamed. I have given one 

 third good muscatel wine with the drinking water daily for several 

 weeks. The bird is very lively and sings, persisting in feeding his 



