Crass Parrakects in Captivity. 
5 
two distinct shades, li.^ht and dark blue. It is, I think, the 
largest of the family, and the frontal band of the cock is the most 
lovely and vivid colour imaginable. 
Of Rock Grass Parrakeets (N. pctrophila) I received 
two cocks from Hagenbeck in the summer of 1913 — tame little 
fellows who would feed from the hand, and who lived together 
on the best of terms. Their colouring was rather subdued — a 
uniform brownish green with a little dark blue on the wings, 
and a small frontal band of the same colour. One contracted a 
fatal chill after I had had him about two years. The survivor I 
still possess. This sununer I turned him into an aviary with a 
pair of Blue-wings, and an odd hen of the same species with 
whom he paired. Both hens nested but their eggs were clear. 
The two ladies did not quarrel but broke one or two of each 
other's eggs in an attempt to run a joint establishment 
wdiich was ultimately abandoned in favour of separate menages. 
Their husbands remained apparently on good terms while they 
were sitting. 
With the advent of chilly weather in October, the Rock 
and the two hen Blue-wings, who were moulting, began to look 
humpy and had to be taken in. The cock Blue-wing I am 
leaving out in the hope that he may stand the winter, and be in 
better trim for breeding next season. 
The Blue-winged Grass Parrakeet (N. vemista) is the 
only species which is at all frequently imported; I have had 
quite a number at different times, but until I gave my aviaries 
an inner lining of string netting my casualty list was a heavy 
one. String netting" might sound a risky device, owing to the 
danger of the birds getting entangled, but in practice I have 
not found it so, as vcnusta never settles on a vertical surface if 
it can possibly avoid doing so. Where grass parrakeets are 
kept with other birds it would, however, be wise to substitute 
thick branches for netting. 
The Blue-winged Grass Parrakeet nests freely in confine- 
ment both in an aviary and in a large cage, but careful manage- 
ment is needed to secure fertile eggs. For three or four seasons 
I have had eggs from different pairs (one of the most prolific and 
