Budgerigars at Liberty. 
211 
all the three others bei^'an to look seedy, and one joined its 
brotlier in a better land; my aviary attendant then luckily 
thought of putting the others on soaked seed, and the effect was 
most satisfactory, as they completely recovered. Apparently 
they could not digest the dry seed, although they had been 
eating it at liberty for some time, and seemed to be getting little 
else. Not long after the capture of his family, 1 noticed the 
old cock looking out of sorts — chill once more — and I had to 
take him in. T expected the hen would appear as soon as he 
no longer came to feed her, but I never saw a sign of her, so she 
must have died egg-bound, or met with an accident, as I hardly 
think the poor thing would be so misguided as to starve on the 
nest rather than leave her eggs for a few moments to feed — has 
such a habit ever been observed in the case of sitting hens 
deprived of their mates? 
By this time nothing but a solitary Yellow cock remained, 
V ith an uncertain number of hens in the elm tree, whom I trusted 
he was engaged in feeding. Certainly, by the amount he ate, 
he had more than him.self to support, and in August four Green 
youngsters made their appearance, and at about the same time r' 
Yellow hen I had not seen for some weeks. I cannot say if 
she was their mother, for I never saw her feed them. The 
young birds did well, and in due course were safely caught Uj) 
for next year's stock, but soon afterwards the Yellow cock 
duplicated the performance of his Green comrade by getting a 
chill, and he, too, had to be brought indoors. Again I hoped 
for a reappearance of sitting hens, but again I was disappointed; 
only the same Yellow continued to visit the feeding tray, and. 
as she was moulting I caught her up, and so ended the experi- 
ment for the year. it can hardly be called a brilliant success, 
though it proves that Budgerigars can bo kept and bred at 
liberty during the summer months, and beyond question they are 
.1 charming addition to a garden, and a source of continual 
pleasure to the owner and his friends. But does it not look as 
though present-day breeders are losing the stamina which once 
trained the Budgerigar the reputation of being the hardiest and 
most prolific of small foreign birds? Chills and egg-binding 
fi om beginning to end, and even when the birds have been ke])! 
in aviaries, my exjierience has been much the same, and, as I 
said before, I have had stock from many sources. 
