NEW GUINEA ECLECTUS. 91 



now and then, will learn to speak a little; but Dr. Kuss estimates 

 their capacity in this respect very correctly when he says: "As talkers, 

 they can only take third, or, at the best, secondary rank." 



When acclimatised they are hardy, but when first imported decidedly 

 delicate, and require a good deal of careful management to keep them 

 from incontinently "going over to the majority." Nor is this to be 

 wondered at, considering the change of climate and the difference of 

 food. Natives of the tropics suddenly transferred to our bleak shores 

 must feel the cold intensely. Feeders on bananas and other luscious 

 fruit, green rice, and similar grain, do not take kindly to maize and 

 hemp seed, which, however, with oats and canary seed, should constitute 

 their food if they are to be kept alive in their involuntarily adopted 

 country. 



The transition from the diet they have been accustomed to, to that 

 which is to be theirs in future must be gradual, and the effect of the 

 change carefully noted for the first few weeks or months; but if 

 purchased during the summer, and the feeding judiciously attended 

 to, they will soon become acclimatised, and give no further trouble. 



Though armed with powerful mandibles, they are not very destructive, 

 and do not appear to have the same propensity for gnawing wood that 

 is so great a drawback to the complete domestication of the larger 

 Parrots and Cockatoos, and the Australian Parrakeets generally, but 

 especially the Platycerci. We must, however, confess that the Bclecti 

 do not, for the various reasons enumerated, stand very high in our 

 esteem. 



In Poultry for 1884, a writer described as follows a male Eclectus, 

 which had taken a first prize at the preceding Crystal Palace Bird 

 Show: — "As those who had the pleasure of making the acquaintance 

 of 'Sir Garnet ' will remember, the general colour of his plumage is 

 vivid grass green, except upon the sides, which are ruby red; the 

 beak is pinky red, like coral, and has a yellow tip. The size of this 

 bird is about that of the larger African Grey Parrot; but the Eclectus 

 has a bigger head, and is more thickly covered with feathers than our 

 old friend "Polly Grey." 



"It usually happens among birds that the female is more soberly 

 clad than the male; and even in cases where the plumage of the sexes 

 is identical in general colouring, it will be found that the tinting of 

 the hen bird is duller than in the case of her mate; but in the present 

 instance this order of things is reversed, for the female Eclectus is 

 very much more brilliant in appearance than her partner; and is 

 altogether such a different looking bird, that authors, until recently, 

 supposed her to belong to a different species, and for a time refused 



