18 GOLDEN-CROWNED PABBAEEET. 



to an agony of chronic thirst in a dry and choky atmosphere, where, 

 we were not surprised to hear, they seldom survived for any length 

 of time : we remonstrated with the person in charge, but without avail, 

 Parrots never drank, he said, and we found that it was useless to 

 attempt to convince him of his error, in which his superiors of course 

 participate. 



Superstitions die hard, as a rule, but are killable nevertheless, and 

 it will be no fault of ours if this "vulgar error" is not decently buried 

 out of sight ere long. 



In refutation of the notion that the Golden-crowned Parrot of New 

 Zealand does not long survive in captivity, we may mention that we 

 have one that has lived over two years in confinement, and appears 

 to be quite healthy and contented, and we are not without hopes that 

 he and his mate may be induced to breed in their aviary next season. 



Although an undeniably charming bird, we consider that fifty shillings, 

 the price quoted in a dealer's list now lying before us, is quite too 

 long a figure to pay for a comparatively common bird, which we have 

 by no means found difficult to preserve, whether in cage in doors, or 

 garden aviary: during the moulting season, however, it is wise to take 

 it into the house, as the evenings are chilly in autumn, and we found 

 that the process of renewing its feathers was, under such circumstances, 

 protracted; and that it was better to take the poor bird into the 

 house. 



If kept in a cage this Parrakeet becomes tolerably familiar, and we 

 have no doubt would learn to speak, at least a few words, but we 

 have not tried to teach ours, which, we must say, are not particularly 

 tame; but then, as we have said, we have not in the least attended 

 to their education. Occasionally these birds can be picked up cheaply, 

 and amateurs should be on the look out for such opportunities, and 

 make their purchases as soon as possible after the birds have reached 

 the dealers' hands; they may lose one or two, it is true; but, on the 

 whole, we think they will be thus more likely to secure healthy sub- 

 jects, than if they waited for several weeks, by which time the high 

 temperature at which foreign birds are chiefly kept in the shops of the 

 dealers cannot fail to have had an injurious effect upon their con- 

 stitutions. 



This Parrakeet is very slim of figure and can squeeze himself 

 through a very small opening without the slightest difficulty, so that 

 in placing him in a cage, care must be taken that the bars are suf- 

 ficiently close together to prevent him taking ' French leave. The 

 first bird of this species we possessed was, upon its arrival, trans- 

 ferred to an ordinary Parrot cage in which it seemed to make itself 



