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C. H. Heal—Breeding the Bahia Passerine Parrotlet



THE BREEDING OF THE BAHIA PASSERINE

PARROTLET (FORPUS PASSERINA VIVIDA)


By C. H. Heal


I have very little time to devote to the most interesting part of

Aviculture, namely, the breeding of rare birds in captivity. My

aviaries, therefore, are quite simple affairs, constructed mainly for

the purpose of giving the birds the benefit of the summer out of

doors.


It was in May last that I turned a pair of the Bahia Passerine

Parrotlet (Forpus passerina vivida ) into one of these aviaries (only

8 by 6 by 3 feet), together with various Lovebirds, large

Chats, and Tanagers. I decided it would be useless to attempt to

breed any of these birds in such an unnatural place, but in order

to make the aviary look as ornamental as possible, I hung up two

or three husks.


One day in August last the hen Parrotlet disappeared, but after

searching some time, the bird was discovered in one of the husks.

I was naturally very anxious to see what was happening inside, but

common sense prevailed, and I did not disturb the bird. As far as

I know, the hen never left the husk for 29 days, and was fed by

the cock Parrotlet the whole time. He would put to flight birds

three times his own size when they approached the nest, and one

can imagine the busy time he had providing for his wife and five

bonny youngsters. The young Parrotlets must have been nearly

a fortnight old before the hen decided to leave the nest and take

over part of the feeding. The floors of my aviaries are made of

concrete, but in spite of this, the rearing of these birds was a very

simple matter. As soon as I thought young birds might be in the

nest, I supplied sunflower, canary, Italian and Indian millet,

together with green food. Everything was refused except sunflower

seed and lettuce, and although I believe Lord Tavistock does not

recommend sunflower for small Parrot-like birds, I can say

definitely these birds were reared solely on sunflower seed and



