84 
Three Toz'i J'arrakeets. 
time Ijefore we could get lier loose. Slie never forgave me, 
and would run across the room after me, and looked like the 
old fellow '" when I tried to make friends. 
Sammy " No. 2 was a poor little specimen; he was 
never very healthy, but got quite tame for some weeks before 
he died. 1 rather suspect he was a Tui, as he had a yellow head. 
" Sammy No. 3 is a very stolid-looking bird, though 
full of original sin. He is a very fine specimen, and is some- 
times (always on Sundays I notice; very noisy. He is never 
happy away from our Blue-fronted Conure, which really hates 
him, and now^ and then they have a rare set-to. " Sammy 
never knows when he is beaten. 1 must say he is an awful pig — 
prefers the Conure's food to his own; will drop anything given 
him to eat for the Conure's, although they are always given their 
food together. He tries hard to talk, and looks as if he will 
burst with trying sometimes. He has picked up several noises 
made by the Conure (which talks well), and says " eh " in 
exactly the same tone. We often wonder if he will learn any 
more — he seems a young bird. 
He isn't very tame, and (I hope the male readers will 
forgive mej, is like some men, very seltish ! He is much more 
gentle than any of the other Tovis, and I've never had a hard 
nip from him all the time I've had him, which is nearly 2 years. 
He is a whale for shredding paper, or tearing holes in curtains, 
so I generally keep a piece of rag tied to his cage; it doesn't 
last very long, for I've known him wake up in the night and 
nibble it ! He seems to want companionship, but doesn't get 
any tamer, so I want to get him a mate, and should be glad if 
any reader has one to spare if they'd let me know. Meanwhile, 
the Conure, much to his disgust, has to put up with being 
rammed in a corner, and made much of by " Sammy " who 
loves him. 
He likes bright metal things, like " Sammy " No. i, but 
colours do not affect him. 
To my mind, when you can get a really tame Tovi Parra- 
keet, nothing can beat it for sw^eetness of temper and faithful- 
