29 



Quaker, ^rey-preasted, or 



4ftoNTE fflDEO JgARRAKEET. 



Psittacus Monachus. 



Synonyms: Bolborrhyncus monachus, Psittaca calita, 



Myiopsitta murina, etc. 



French : Perruche Souris. German: Monchspapagei oder Quaker. 



PERHAPS the most curious fact connected with the natural history 

 of the Psittacidce, is the nidificating instinct of the Quaker Parra- 

 keet, which, departing from the general habits of the genus, builds 

 itself a nest of sticks among the branches of a tree; while all its 

 congeners make their breeding burrows in the hollow limbs or trunks 

 of trees, or, in a few instances in the ground, or under the roots of 

 a tree. 



The nest of this bird is a very large structure, composed of the 

 long thin terminal branches of trees, which are in-laced so firmly by 

 the builder, that it is quite a difficult matter to tear one of them to 

 pieces; it is domed like the nest of a magpie, and has usually two 

 openings, one perhaps for entrance and the other for exit. 



In captivity the same habit is retained, at least in the generality of 

 cases, for M. Rousse, whom we have already quoted in another con- 

 nection, relates, that his Perruches Souris were in the habit of filling 

 up their nest-boxes with everything they could find; " remplissent 

 leurs nids de tout ce qu'elles trouvent;" whereas those in the possession 

 of the present writer, although they had numerous nest boxes at their 

 disposal, refused to have anything to say to them, but covered over 

 a seed box with the twigs taken from a birch broom; of which 

 domestic implements they used up three before the nest was finished to 

 their liking. The shallow box was first filled with twigs, cut in suitable 



