E. J. Boosey—Breeding of the Splendid Grass Parrakeet 289


THE BREEDING OF THE SPLENDID GRASS

PARRAKEET FOR THE FIRST TIME

IN EUROPE


By E. J. Boosey


Two breeding results of outstanding interest have been obtained

here at the Keston Foreign Bird Farm during 1934, namely the successful

rearing of broods of the Splendid Grass Parrakeet (Neophema

splendida) and the Yellow-fronted New Zealand Parrakeet (Cyanor-

hamphus auriceps) . The former have, I believe, never before been

reared in Europe, whilst the latter were bred some thirty odd years

ago by Mr. Bouskill, though never, I think, either before or since.


The pair of Splendids arrived here in late summer of last year and

were placed in an outdoor aviary possessing a heated shelter. One cold

autumn night the cock contracted a slight chill, due possibly to the

heater not being turned up high enough ; but, in any case, we considered

it safest to transfer the pair to a large flight cage, where they successfully

passed the winter.


This spring, as soon as they were put out into their original aviary,

they at once showed signs of wanting to go to nest; the hen continually

searching for nesting sites, and treating the most impossible crevices

as a suitable nursery for her children, while the cock flew from end

to end of the aviary, starting high up and dropping almost to the

ground half-way—rather like a courting cock Barraband but with

a less laboured flight—and ending high up on the wire at the farther

end of the run, with shoulders forward and wings depressed, reminding

one of a cock Bourke’s when his wife is house-hunting. At the same

time he frequently uttered the plaintive piping notes which are so

reminiscent of a Bullfinch and so utterly unlike the call of any of his

near relatives.


When the nest-box—a natural hollow log—was put in, their excite¬

ment knew no bounds, his wife—like most hen Parrakeets—pretending

to be terrified yet fascinated by the strange 'object; while her husband,

after hovering round it for a few moments, eventually settled and

timidly poked his head into the entrance hole. Apparently, in spite

of the pitch darkness within, he found it to his liking, for by way of


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