Alfred Ezra—Bearing of Blue Alexandrine Parrakeet 239


appeared in the November number of our Magazine in 1926. After

the birds were acclimatized indoors, they were turned out into a

large aviary. The blue cock took to his yellow wife at once, and

although they mated and laid for two years, all the eggs were

infertile. I then mated the blue cock bird to a normal coloured green

hen, and in 1930, for the first time, they reared four beautifully

strong young ones all of which were green. In 1931 the same pair

again reared three fine young ones, and they again were green. In

1933 I paired the blue cock bird to one of his daughters. She laid

three eggs, two of which were infertile, and the third one contained

a partly formed dead chick. This year the same two birds were

again mated, and by the 20th March three eggs were laid. One

young one was hatched out on 14th April, and the other on 15th

April, and the third egg was infertile. A few green feathers were

noticed on one young one on the 4th May, and on the 5th May one

blue feather was seen on the other young one. By the 7th May

several blue feathers were seen, but we were not certain this young

one was going to be a beautiful blue before the 12th May, when he

was covered with blue feathers. Out of the two young in the nest one

is a normal green, and the other a beautiful blue. Both birds left

the nest on the 9th June, and they are as healthy and strong as any

birds that I have bred. The parents were marvellous and looked after

the two young most devotedly. As I have been trying for over ten

years to establish the blue variety, I am more than pleased with

the result, and hope next year to breed one or two more. Besides

this pair, I have two more pairs of blue bred birds, and out of these

I hope to get some more blues. One pair of these blue bred birds

(brother and sister) produced two very fine young ones this year,

but both of these are green.


The lutino hen Alexandrine mated to a normal coloured green

cock keeps on producing green young ones. Next year I hope to

mate it to one of her sons when I should get lutino young ones.



