264 The Marquess of Tavistock—Breeding the Yellow-bellied Parrakeet


anyhow ! It is true that later in the spring he did one day start driving

her a bit and had to have his wing tipped, but I do not think he really

meant to hurt her, but only wished to impress upon her that it was

time she settled down to business. She certainly was a very slow

starter ; though provided with the tall, bark-topped grandfather-clock

nest in the open flight she had patronized two years previously, she

seemed unable to get as far as her first egg. She let the cock feed her

in May and sometimes spent a lot of time in the nest, but when I left

home on the last day of the month her visits to the box were less

frequent than they had been and an ominous dropped tail-feather

from the cock heralded the onset of the moult. However, at the end

of June she did produce four eggs and her mate half-delayed his moult

in order to be able to attend to family affairs. In due course the four

eggs hatched and by the beginning of the second week in August gentle

pipings and sounds of scrambling inside the nest announced the early

exit of the family. On 12th August a fine strong youngster made its

appearance, to be, if it should survive, the first pure-bred Yellow-belly

to be reared in England.


While the young were being fed the old birds were plentifully

supplied with groundsel, sow thistle, and “ hardheads The latter

plant, rather like a spine-less thistle in appearance and exceedingly

common in late summer, is a most valuable food for the larger Broad¬

tails. The seed-heads are most appreciated when the pinkish purple

flower has died and turned brown. The two old birds seem very devoted

to their offspring and very solicitous for their welfare. The hen does

most of the feeding of the young while in the nest but the cock, though

moulting, feeds her and also feeds the young one that has emerged.

Twelve years is a long time to wait for a bird to start nesting, but now;

that she has succeeded once I hope the hen will continue and take her

place in the honourable company of regular breeders. Certainly there

is something about her now far more matronly and domestic than there

used to be and the meagre, old-maid air of former seasons has departed !

The young birds did well and are now independent of the parents.



