244 
Joseph." 
billeiiy regret that 1 had nut adopted the usual precaution of 
letting one bird yet accustomed to its freedom before its mate 
was allowed to join it. Josepii seemed such a staid old fellow 
that I never imagined he would leave lUe home where he had 
spent three years, in the independnt fashion of a newcomer from 
the Australian bush. Next morning, however, the first sound 
that greeted my ears, on waking, was Joseph's well-known 
whistle and his mate's reply. On going out later there was no 
sign of either, and I consoled myself by thinking that they would 
again come back to roost. But next day I neither saw nor 
heard them, and the two following days gave us no clue to 
Joseph's whereabouts- My fears revived; 1 had many rarer 
and more valuable birds in my collection, but 1 had grown fond 
of Joseph for association's sake, and his loss annoyed me 
extremely, especially as 1 felt that with better management he 
might not have strayed. On the fifth morning", however, the 
gardener brought me the good news that Joseph and his wife 
had been spending most of the previous day in the orchard, and 
almost at the same moment a Pennant in an aviary near by 
Hung himself against the wire, calling in wild excitement as 
the two Rosellas swept gracefully over the house and settled 
in a tree above our heads. A few minutes later they were down 
on the feeding tray, and 1 knew that all was well. 
Subsequently we learned that Joseph had spent the first 
days of his liberty feasting on the apples in a neighbour's 
garden. Fortunately the neighbour was hospitable and knew 
Joseph, and the amount of fruit consumed was not great. For 
some time we saw little of the pair, and it seemed difficult to 
realize that the bird of which we caught occasional glimpses 
as he darted across the sky and vanished behind the tree-tops 
was the same truculent Joseph of the aviary on the north lawn. 
But gradually his old character began to reassert itself, and he 
also spent more time at home. Liberty and unlimited wild food 
had again brought him back into breeding condition, and 
although both were moulting", I saw him feeding the Rosella. 
He soon began tcj explore the chimney-stacks for a nesting" site, 
and fearing that he might come to an untimely end by descend- 
ing a chimney, I fixed up his old nest-box under the roof, which 
he often visits, though naturally, considering the time of year, 
