" // only to say liozv tlic beastly thing died." 237 
were laid, and these hatched out in due course, only to 
disappear later in the day. I think that next year I shall have 
to try them in an aviary with no other occupants. 
0 
"If Only to say How the Beastly Thing Died." 
By the MARyuis of Tavistock. 
Many years ago an experienced aviculturist tried to inspire 
members of the F.B.C., if I remember rightly, with the desire 
to find out everything possible with regard to the treatment in 
confinement of that beautiful, but rather disappointing bird, the 
(".ouldian Finch. And he urged everyone to write and give his 
experience of the species, "if only to say how the beastly thing 
died." I have forgotten the correspondence which followed .is 
to the management of Gouldians, but the phrase. " if only to 
say how the beastly thing died," remains hauntingly in my 
memory. 
How often do we start with high hopes of breeding some 
rare bird — perhaps for the first time — and in the end, alas! all 
we have to relate is the way in which the beastly thing died! 
Sometimes the account is never written; one's avicultural 
triumphs are so much pleasanter to record than one's failures, 
and nobody likes to advertise his incompetence even if it be 'n 
the matter of keeping a bird and getting it to rear its young ! 
Still, one learns much by one's own failures, and sometimes one 
learns from the failures of other people, so it is perhaps fair 
to them to record one's disappointments, and the manner in 
which they came about. 
I have for many years past kept Yellow-bellied Parrakeets 
(Platyecreiis jlaviventris). and always with ill success. This 
handsome Tasmanian broadtail looks as though he would be 
easy to keep and l^reed — as easy as a Rosella, for he is neither 
difficult to feed, nor sensitive to cold — but as a matter of fact he 
is an awkward proposition, a very awkward proposition indeed. 
My first Yellow-bellies I lost from accident or bad management 
in the days when I was a beginner at parrakeet keeping. The 
one which survived longest was a cock I had at liberty; he paired 
with an Adelaide Parrakeet, and the story of his scandalous 
