304 Breeding of the Ued-sided Eclectus Parrot. 
I discovered her pulling the feathers out of the young ones, I 
thought it time to interfere, so caught and caged her. She 
evidently wished to nest again, for she had subjected the log 
to a most vigoi'ous " spring cleaning." She had kept the nest 
most beautifully clean, and fresh for the last month, pushing 
the young ones into a corner, and then scraping and scratch- 
ing—like a dog at a rabbit hole— all dust and dirt flying out 
of the log, behind her. 
A more devoted mother could have been. When 
she did leave the log for a short scramble in the. 
flight, she would stop every now and then with her 
head on one side, to listen, and if any sound came from the 
log that alarmed her or any person came into the shelter — 
back she would go as fast as she could, and then having 
seen and arranged matters to her satisfaction would again go 
out. During the first month after halching, and the last few 
weeks, when she seemed afraid that they might fall from the 
log, she scarcely left them at all, and one saw her pushing 
them back into the log if they showed signs of being too 
adventurous. At night she was always in the log (till the 
last night before they came out altogether) the male perch- 
ing on a branch close by, then he moved some little distance 
oil back to the long perch, where he usually roosted, and the 
next morning we found the two young birds sitting beside 
nim — evidently this must have been arranged. The hen 
never joined them, but lemained at the log, getting it ready 
for a new nest. 
They have been well fed during the whole period, 
with boiled Indian corn (given damp), about a quarter pound 
each day, and usual seed mixture. Of this, at first they did 
not eat much, evidently feeding on soft food, an Osborne bis- 
cuit boiled in milk with sugar, and a little Alellin's food, 
either a boilea potato, or some baked rice pudding, apple, 
nuts of sorts (at first not many taken, but latterly a good 
many have |been eaten), lettuce, and chickweed; ithey prefer the 
latter and eaA a good deal of it. Sometimes I was filled with 
alarm when the male became sulky, either from not being 
allowed to go out on some wet day, or from not having hit 
it ofl with his wife, and refused to touch any food; the more 
the children screamed and yelled the niore .sulky he would 
