Correspondence



15



RED-RUMP PARRAKEETS


These birds were in my possession for a year or more before there was any

sign of breeding.


They made a nest in a covered-in prune box, with the bottom rounded

with plaster of paris into the shape of a nest, an opening about 3 inches

wide being left at one end.


The hen laid three eggs. Incubation took twenty-three days. The birds

succeeded in rearing one only, which remained in the nest until the hen

Parrakeet was thinking of laying again.


The young one left the nest on the 20th November, 1930. Its sex, a cock,

w r as denoted by the colour of the plumage, as soon as it came into the open.


The birds were fed upon the usual mixture for Parrakeets and Lovebirds

and in addition a large quantity of different kinds of seeding grasses, cocksfoot,

being one of the principal foods. I am confident that a plentiful supply of

natural seeds is essential to be successful.


It is also necessary to take the young ones away as soon as they are

independent, otherwise the cock will kill the young when the hen goes to

nest a second time.


A. E. Henley.


66 Victoria Street, W.,


Auckland.



COCKATIELS


In August, one pair, the cock having been w r ith me some months, took a

large hollow punga stem for their nest.


This punga was end upwards on a shelf under a portion of the aviary

glassed over.


Three eggs were laid, and two young hatched after twenty-three days’

incubation. The young stayed in the nest until they w r ere able to fly and

w r hen they left the nest they were practically independent.


The young appear exactly the same as the hen and in spite of books saying

that the extra yellow about the head denotes a cock bird, I failed to notice

any difference. The young birds are most unusual in appearance when in the

pin-feather stage, for they seem to get their feathers all at once.


The first young one left the nest on the 21st October, 1930.


The food used was canary, millet, a great deal of hemp, occasionally

sunflower, a little green food and plenty of sow thistle heads.


A. E. Henley.



CORDON BLEUS


It gives one some satisfaction to achieve a difficult object after many

trials and disappointments.


For two and a half years I have endeavoured to breed this difficult little

bird and have now succeeded in rearing four young ones.


They were hatched after fourteen days’ incubation in a nest built in some

ti-tree from fine grass and feathers. It was dome-shaped with a small entrance

at the side.



