238 " // o)ily to say how the beastly thing died." 
domestic life and liis ultimate production of a hybrid offspring I 
never saw has been told elsewhere. 
During- the war I received about half a dozen new Yellow- 
bellies in very nice condition, which were turned into an outdoor 
aviary in the Isle of Wight ; they immediately proceeded to begin 
to die of a form of septicaemia, which makes it impossible for 
me to keep either Many-colours or Blue-bonnets for any length 
of time in that place. To save the remnant (two cocks and a 
hen) I sent them to a friend in (jloucester shire. There they 
lived for two or three years, but did not nest. On one occasion, 
when I was paying my friend a visit, we were just going out 
of the aviary, when the hen Yellow-belly, who was tame and 
cunning, shot out over his head and vanished from sight. A 
little searching revealed her in a garden further down the road, 
but she was far too pleased with her liberty to come when called, 
so we had to leave her out in imminent risk of being eaten by 
cats. F'or the next few days she flew about Cheltenham, but 
growing hungry she finally entered a house and was safely 
captured and returned by a person who had seen our advertise- 
ment in the local paper. Not long afterwards her mate died 
of tuberculosis, and she and the other cock were sent to my 
house in Hampshire. 
When spring came I gave the pair their liberty, much to 
the disgust of an old Yellow-mantle who tyrannized over all 
the parrakeets in the garden, and particularly hated his own 
relations. The Yellow-bellies stayed fairly well, and the hen 
would follow me about the garden, but she was so tame that 
she was in danger of being injured when she paid visits to neigh- 
bouring houses, and she was inclined to be very spiteful with 
little children, so I was regretfully compelled to return her and 
her mate to the aviary. Not long afterwards the male began 
to look ill, and as I could not diagnose his complaint, which did 
not seem to be chill, I gave him his liberty. He soon recovered, 
but disai)peared suddenly some weeks later. Months after- 
wards a portion of his skull was picked up in the garden, but 
whether he died or met with an accident T cannot tell. 
The following summer (1920) the hen, though unmated. 
began to show unmistakable signs of being in breeding 
condition, and I was not surprised when she laid four eggs. 
We removed them and gave her, instead, he eggs of a Crimson- 
