" Joseph." 
239 
I have found the Cockateel quite amial)le and this 
without exception, tlKni.^h I have possessed many since T first 
started keepint;- foreii^n birds. l^)Ut I must add that others have 
not been so fortunate and I have heard of many who gave 
trouble to tlieir owners. 
They are mischievous and curious, and are apt to annoy 
and disturb other birds, especiahy passerines if they are kept 
with them : not l)y attacking the birds, but by nibbhng at their 
nests, often continuing this annoyance (pleasantry perhaps from 
their standpoint) till the structure drops a shapeless wreck to the 
groimd. However, nothing is perfect, virtue and vice (failings 
at any rate) abound in every form of creature life, and the 
Cockateel is not perfect, but an all round good fellow never- 
theless. 
But I must not yarn on, as this species has been much 
written about, and if any reader wants more details I must refer 
them to back volumes- 
<>»^ 
"Joseph." 
By Tiik Marquis of Tavistock- 
The autumn of iQM- of evil memory, placed me, and no 
doubt many other members also, in a position where aviculture 
was altogether out of the question ; but finding myself, some 
months later, in London in more commodious quarters than a 
bell-tent, T was tempted to keep at least one bird to remind me 
of my favourites, the beautiful Broad-tailed Parrakeets of 
Australia. An offer of a cock Yellow-mantled Parrakeet 
f Plafyccrciis splcnd'idus) was accepted, and in due course 
Joseph arrived; he was in very good plumage for a newly- 
im]-)orted bird, partly, no doubt, owing to the fact that he 
had been on the show-bench in his native land and was quite 
