Some Experiences of Coclcaioos. 
289 
Toby began to show signs of u desire to nest, carefully e.xaniiii- 
ing large holes in trees and on one occasion effecting a sudden 
and unceremonious descent down one of the chimneys of the 
house at 4 a.m. Fortunately there was no lire in the grate 
and she was none the woi'se for her adventure, though the 
kitchen-maid who was sleeping in the room at the time of 
her unexpected entry, must, I am afraid, have received rather 
a severe shock to her nerves. About this time, also, Toby 
began to show an increasing desire for Teddy's company, 
following liim about closely and sidling up to him iu an 
ingratiating manner; but he, alas! was only bored by her 
attentions; his heart was for his human friends and for 
them alone. 
Encouraged by the success I had at length obtained, 
1 leleased fienry in the hope that he, too, had learned wisdom 
by his previous experiences. This time he did not leave 
the garden, but for several days displayed to the full that 
imperfect control of his wings and fear of descending which 
characterizes many Parrots which have spent a long period 
in confinement. He would call anxiously and keep looking 
down at us, but when after nmch hesitation he Iaunche.d 
himself into the air, his courage would fail, and his wings 
would carry him to anotiier branch as lofty and inaccessible as 
the one he had just quitted. In the end, however, he 
learned to fly down; and except for one occasion on 
which he lost his way in a thick fog, he never gave fur- 
ther trouble through straying as long as I liad him, in fact 
he seldom left the immediate vicinity of the buildings. About 
the same time that Henry was released I received a pair 
of lianksians from a London dealer. He told me that they 
were young and I am inclined to believe him as they had a 
habit when alarmed of swaying their heads about and liissing 
in a manner suggestive of the behaviour of frightened nest- 
lings. Iheir plumage, however, was very similar to that 
of the adults, which makes me inclined to thhik that the 
sexes are differently coloured iiom the very first. Both the 
new arrivals were shy and unfriendly and would touch nothing 
but canary seed — a diet not sulficiently nourishing ioi' lianksians 
—and the cock was badly infested with tapeworms, of which 
it took many doses of cina in his driiiking water to entirely 
