TIIE ROSE -BINGED PARRA KEET, 
17 
whole flock swept repeatedly round their prostrate companions, 
and again settled on a low tree within twenty yards of where I 
stood. At each successive discharge, though showers of them 
fell, yet the survivors seemed rather to increase ; for after a few 
circuits round the place, they again alighted near me, looking- 
down on their slaughtered companions with such manifest 
symptoms of sympathy and concern as entirely disarmed me.” 
By the bye, for fear I should forget it, I may as well here 
warn the keeper of a Carolina parrakeet against the use of salt. 
Taking the cue from the above described habit of the bird at 
the salt “ licks,” in his native wilds, the reader might be 
inclined to give his pet an inexpensive saline treat. To do so 
would be to endanger the bird’s life. The use of it may be all 
very well while the bird is at liberty and uncontrolled in its 
diet ; but to give salt to a caged Carolina parrakeet would cer- 
tainly lead to an attack of scurvy, and a dreadfully mangy 
condition of plumage. 
The Rose-ringed Parrakeet. — This charming little bird is 
also known as the Guinea sparrow. It is about fifteen inches 
in total length, of which the tail comprises at least two -thirds. 
Its prevailing colour is grass -green shaded with red and blue, 
and round its neck is a rose-coloured collar, from whence it 
derives its name. It is a native of India. The colours of the 
hen bird are the same as those of the male, excepting that the 
rosy ring round the neck of the former is so pale beneath as to 
be nearly undistinguishable. The rose-ringed parrakeet has as 
good a claim to the title of “ love bird ” as any that fly, as may 
be proved by any one who will take the trouble to obtain a bird 
of each sex and enclose them in one cage. Indeed, if after living 
together for some time one of them should die, the remaining 
one, whether it be he or she, will be inconsolable, and will 
speedily pine and follow its mate, unless another companion is 
speedily obtained. In case such a catastrophe should occur, 
and a second mate for your bereaved rose-ring be unattainable, 
it may be as well to adopt a plan suggested by Bechstein, viz., 
putting a mirror inside the cage, and so cheat the poor widow 
into a belief in her husband’s presence. 
In a wild state the rose-ringed parrakeets breed in holes of 
trees and buildings, and hatch three or four eggs each time. As 
the grain crops ripen, they frequent the trees in the neighbour- 
hood, whence they make descents on the fields, returning again 
to the boughs with a head of grain in their beaks, which they 
munch at their leisure. Dallas, speaking of this bird, says, 
c 
