WEST AFBIOAN LOVE-BIBD. 
127 
assume that this is so, for we are unwilling to believe any one would 
deliberately sit down and pen that which had no foundation save in his 
own imagination, and then pawn it off upon the public as an account 
of his own expei-ience: no, we have a better opinion, not only of the 
individual alluded to, but of human nature in general, than to believe 
that one who professes to be a teacher of others, would permit himself 
to practice so petty and mean a fraud upon the public. 
A mistake is pardonable, for we are, none of us, infallible, but a 
deliberate attempt to deceive, when nothing can be gained by the 
deception, and exposure is almost sure to follow, is not to be condoned; 
and there are few persons to be found, as we believe, so foolish as to 
run the risk of incurring the obloquy that would be certain to attach 
to such a course. 
The West African Love-bird is not one of our favourites; we have 
occasionally kept them, but have always found them dull and uninter- 
esting, not only in a cage, but even in a good-sized aviary; where 
they soon became so shy as to hide themselves in the darkest corner 
they could find, so that, as they were never to be seen, we thought 
we might as well save ourselves the expense of keeping them, and 
passed them on to the first person we found willing to receive them. 
Although they will endure for a certain number of years in captivity 
once they are thoroughly acclimatised, so many die during the process, 
that it is safe to say not more than two or three per hundred of 
those that are imported into this country survive, and their importation 
occurs in such numbers that, were their habitat not an extensive one, 
and their prolificacy great in their own country, the race would soon 
run the risk of becoming extinct. 
Six or seven years seems to be about the average period of their 
duration in captivity; some specimens, however, are known to have 
survived for a much longer period, but on the whole we imagine we 
are not far wrong when we believe them to be a short-lived race: how 
long they live in their native woods, it is, of course, impossible to 
guess, but very likely their term of existence is even shorter there, as 
happens with almost every kind of bird. 
The Common Sparrow, for instance, lives five or six years in a wild 
state, and has been known to exist for twenty in a cage: the same 
can be said of Ravens, Hawks, Pigeons, and almost every known species 
of bird; and the explanation is not far to seek: in the wild state, 
especially in this country, birds are exposed to many hardships, and 
have to contend against a multitude of foes, while in captivity they 
are, as a rule, well fed and cared for, and are moreover exempt from 
the fatiguing labours of reproduction, which tend materially to shorten 
