258 The Marquess of Tavistock—1934 : Things that did come off


would have to put up with as a pis alter when the favoured swain had

been sent away.


When the hen Pennant inspects the nest the old cock is far too lazy

to behave as a Broadtail gentleman should and skirmish about with an

appearance of great interest, waggling his tail. He justs sits comfort¬

ably on the perch and gives a few whistles for her encouragement.

He is just as lazy when the children arrive and of late years I do not

believe he has fed anyone but himself. If a newly emerged nestling

flies clumsily from one end of the aviary to the other he flies up with it

and, having done that, he appears to consider that his duty as a father

has been adequately discharged ! This year a fine family of five have

been reared single-handed by the hen—two cocks and three hens.

The first to leave the nest—a hen—is almost entirely red, except on

the wings ; all have red breasts and the youngest member of the family

—a cock—is the most green.


My old pair of Crimson-wings laid four eggs and hatched and reared

three good young ones in a roomy natural tree-trunk in the open flight.

A new cock paired to a hen whose eggs with a hybrid cock have always

been infertile also helped to rear a good brood of three.


If you allow him the right kind of aviary and the right nest the

Crimson-wing is, in my opinion, the least trouble to manage and the

healthiest and hardiest of all the larger Parrakeets. Both young and

old keep far freer from chills and unforeseen ailments than any of the

Broadtails and they need less shelter and less “ extras ” in the way of

food when rearing young. A few boards in the flight, to provide shade

and protection from rain and direct wind from any quarter, are quite

sufficient and in a 24 X 8 X 8 ft. movable aviary with a turf bottom

it is unnecessary to give extra green food, apple and some seed thrown

down on a clean heap of peat to soften and sprout in the dew and rain

being all that are required.


The Crimson-wing’s one drawback is the similarity of the sexes

until, it may be, the second complete moult, but young hens, well

reared, will lay at a year old and young cocks at the same age will often

show their sex by chuckling and calling, sotto voce , when at rest, in

a way hens do not do, since these only call when excited or on the move.


My breeding pair of Kings, which have hitherto failed to hatch



