PETZ'S CONURE. 59 



the bird is found to possess: but that is the case with most Parrots 

 as well as Parrakeets, we believe; at least when we have thought more 

 than once that a bird had spoken a certain word, we have been 

 assured by its happy possessor that it had said something quite different. 

 Apart, however, from its linguistic attainments, which vary immensely 

 in different individuals, Petz's Oonure is a very desirable little bird, 

 whether kept singly, or in company with one or more of its congeners; 

 for it is hardy, tractable, and pretty. 



We seem to have an idea, that this bird has been successfully bred 

 in captivity, but we cannot recollect where or when we saw the 

 account to which we now refer. 



The Oonures belong to the sub-family Arinoe, of which they form a 

 separate genus, Conurus, and are very numerous, the London Zoological 

 Society having at different times possessed specimens of no less than 

 twenty-six different species, leaving the list by no means exhausted. 

 Dr. Karl Russ enumerates twenty-nine species, which he describes more 

 or less fully; and others are known to exist, although possibly, as in 

 the case of the Jendaya, the immature birds, and in some cases the 

 females, are called to do duty separately as distinct species; time, 

 however, will clear up these trifling obscurities, and still leave the 

 Oonures the most numerous family of the great race to which they 

 belong, numbering, in all probability, some thirty distinct varieties. 



The London Zoological Society first became possessed of the subject 

 of our present notice in 1869, when two specimens were purchased; 

 since then other examples have been acquired, by gift or received in 

 exchange, and several are now to be seen in the Parrot House, where 

 they appear to suffer more or less from ennui, a terrible malady to 

 which so many unhappy human beings are also subject; for several 

 of them have fallen into the disastrous habit of plucking the small 

 feathers from the breast; and one has left itself quite bare in that region. 



"Want of occupation is in the great majority of cases the exciting 

 cause of this disfiguring habit, into which some of the Jendayas have 

 also fallen; and we have advised the placing Of pieces of soft wood in 

 the cages, so that the birds may exercise their beaks in a more congenial 

 manner than on their own plumage. Once, however, the habit of 

 feather plucking has been indulged in for any length of time, it is 

 almost hopeless to effect a cure; but if the bird is noticed at the outset, 

 and a log of soft wood, and a handful of small stones are supplied for 

 its amusement, in all probability the self-disfiguring propensity will be 

 abandoned; and the creature which was in danger of becoming a dis- 

 agreeable-looking object will remain a thing of beauty, and so far, a 

 joy for ever. 



