Pals. 
145 
Zebra Finch's offspriiii; — neither dues Mrs. Zebra I'incli share 
in lier jjartner's pals. 
The writer lias had almost unlimited oi)portimity of 
studviui.;- the aviary-life of many prominent aviculturists' 
aviaries, of listening- to many pal-yarns, as well as observing all 
the (pieer ( ?) traits of the occupants of his own aviaries. 
I will sort of proceed to prove my case by (piotinu;' lirst 
an instance of the " exception that proves the rule : " 
In one of the enclosures which are !4iven up to parrots 
antl parrakeets, which is occupied by odd birds, live a Blue- 
fronted Amazon parrot ( - 1, and a Ben.^al Farrakeet (9), 
between whom exists a purely platunic friendship. Each bird 
had passed throu,L;h the sad experiences of tragedy, in which 
their respective mates " went West," and perchance, who can 
tell? their palship began in a sort of " fellow feeling makes us 
wondrous kind " spirit — in married bliss they were neighbours 
with only a i)artition of wire netting between them — in their 
sorrows as widower and widow they held communion and 
extended sympathy to each other through the netting. One 
lazy hour {i.'cr\ fczc tlicsc), while lounging in front of the 
aviaries. I observed them feeding each other through the netting" 
and holding sweet converse together, so, I soliloquised, why 
waste a season ? Why not have some .strange hybrids if you 
can't have the pure species ? The outcome was, I went into the 
aviary, lazy no longer, caught up the widow and placed her with 
the widower; but, alas! for my calculations, their friendshij) 
was ])urely platonic and remains so. At intervals during the 
day they may be seen feeding each other, exchanging confi- 
dences, or having a playful " spar " together, so playful that 
not a feather is put out of place; and so the game of life goes 
on. I wove a romance around them, but they thought other- 
wise, and happily trend their way onward in full enjoyment of 
their platonic love. 
In aviaries devoted to breeding pairs I have had many 
pleasing and ill-assorted instances of this palship, for, like many 
human friendships — of the latter it is often said : " they have not 
a trait in common, they cannot remain pals long!" probably 
herein lies the secret of their enduring palship — the most unlikely 
individuals become and continue pally. Of human pals it 's 
