BOOK PEPLEB. 69 



experience of many others — but I so thoroughly admire them, that I 

 made great attempts, and went to great expense, to keep them. 



Like kings they are subject to a disease of the eye. At first the 

 eye is watery, then the nictoring membrane becomes enlarged, and 

 partially covers the eye. By frequent bathing with dilute sulphate of 

 zinc, that membrane assumes its normal condition; but the cornea 

 becomes callous, the eye dull, and the sight entirely gone. I am quite 

 positive this disease is not the result of draughts. One fine specimen, 

 a male, lived some time after losing the sight of one eye. This was 

 particularly painful to me, for when a bird of a pugnacious turn, say 

 a Blue Mountain Lory, or a White-eared Oonure, or a Bengal Par- 

 rakeet, came on the perch on his blind side, he got a nasty bite at 

 times, causing him to fly off madly. He always avoided their coarse 

 play, if they approached him on the side of his good eye. The case 

 was aggravated from the fact of the Eock Pepler being a most peaceful 

 and unsuspecting bird. I never knew them to quarrel either among 

 themselves or with any of their companions. 



They are small eaters, and seem to like a little insect food; are 

 very fond of fresh seedy chickweed. They regularly take their matutinal 

 tub, and enjoy a siesta in the middle of the day, like a king. They 

 are extremely lively towards sunset. I have noticed this with all the 

 Australian birds I have kept; my Crimson-wings seem almost mad 

 just before retiring for the night. 



A friend of mine who goes in largely for small foreign birds, after 

 spending some time with my stock, remarked, 'The Rock Pepler is the 

 only large bird I would care to keep/ He admired their natural cry, 

 which is altogether peculiar, and about as easy to describe verbally as 

 it would be to imitate the song of the nightingale on a Scotch bag- 

 pipe; their symmetrical form, the exquisite blending of the colours of 

 their plumage, which is extremely beautiful, without being gaudy, and 

 in the words of my Rock Pepler loving friend, Their expression is 

 so peaceful/ To me they appear very susceptible to any sudden change 

 of temperature, so much so, that I was afraid to venture on keeping 

 them out of doors all the winter.-" 



"In June, 1884/' writes another correspondent, "I bought two 

 young Rock Peplers, which both turned out to be hens, and I at 

 once put them in a small outdoor aviary. The aviary, I must explain, 

 is all wood and glass, except where it meets the end of a verandah 

 where there are wire bars, and this open space is closed in bad weather 

 by a door; which shuts the aviary off from the verandah, but is not 

 so close to it as to exclude the air. In this the birds have lived and 

 thriven, never having a ruffled feather up till now. 



