MADAGASCAR LOVE-BIBB. 139 



half of February, and the beginning of March, I found several young 

 oues in the burrows, often only one, and never more than two together. 

 In one case I found a rotten egg beside the young one. Generally, 

 but not always, an old bird was found with the young one in the 

 burrow; no exact nest is made, the Kakapo digging out only a shallow 

 depression in the dry mass of decayed wood/ Authorities Haast, Lyell, 

 George Grey, quoted by Dr. Brehm. 



"King-necked Parrakeet (Psittacus torquatus). f In order to rear 

 his young family', says Blyth, 'he establishes himself not only in gardens, 

 plantations, or shady trees, on the roads or waysides, but also in suit- 

 able cavities in large buildings, in the clefts and holes of walls.' 



" c The breeding-season of the Eing-necked Parrot', as we learn from 

 Jerdon, ' occurs in the months of January, February, and March; in 

 the centre of Africa, the rainy season, which is followed by spring, is 

 the time for reproduction. In India, as already mentioned, not only 

 trees are selected as nesting places, but all kinds of other cavities, even 

 those in the most widely differing buildings : in Africa, hollows in trees 

 only are chosen/ Quoted by Drs. Brehm and Euss. 



"The Quaker or Bog Parrot, Perruche moine, ou souris; Monks, 

 Quaker, yunge Witwe (Psittacus monachus), ' Builds large open nests 

 on trees, which often exceed a metre (three feet) in diameter, closed 

 in at the top, and lined with grasses; often several are found in one 

 tree, and several hen birds lay their eggs in the same nest/ — Azara, 

 confirmed in all particulars by Darwin and others; bred in captivity 

 by Schmidt, and in the Berlin Aquarium: a picture of the nest was 

 drawn by Miitzel for Dr. Brehm' s Birds. 



"Peach-faced Love-birds and Grey-headed Love-birds also make nests 

 as described by Dr. Karl Euss, Mr. Wiener, myself (Mrs. Cassirer), and 

 others." 



An extremely interesting account of the nest-building propensities 

 of the Quaker Parrot (Psittacus monachus), was furnished by Mr. Buxton 

 to the Animal World. — "Five years ago I brought back from South 

 America two small Green Paroquets, — these two were turned out about 

 September, and early in October they began to build a nest on the 

 top of a large vase, which stood in the open hall. Of course, according 

 to their calculations the spring should have been well forward by 

 October. They must have thought the winter unaccountably mild, and 

 the spring and summer too disgustingly cold. 



"The nest was formed of silver-birch twigs, twined and matted 

 together, making one solid mass. The tiny birds looked very graceful 

 flying into the hall with a long sprig of birch trailing behind them. 

 Once, when the nest was almost three feet high, the whole of it was 



