62



Dr. Hamilton—Parrot Diseases in the Wild State



young Porphyry Crowned Lorikeet, which was unable to fly when its

parents and brother (or sister) left the nest. I noticed that it had no

flight or tail feathers, and resembled in appearance the Budgerigars

that most of us have been unlucky enough to breed sometimes, with

what is known as “ French moult”.


I kept the bird in a small cage, and fed him on bread and milk and

sugar (Dr. Allinson’s food being unobtainable in Australia), and he

thrived amazingly, but has never grown tail or flight feathers.


He was kept hanging under the grape vines close to my talking

Amazon—the only two birds I have in small cages.


The Amazon’s cage is 5 feet long, 4 feet high, and 3 feet wide,,

so he can move about and get some exercise.


I never knew that these small Lorikeets could talk, but this one

has picked up a few words from the Amazon, and says : “ Hello boy,”'

“ Hello cocky boy,” and “ How are you,” in a very gruff voice, but

clearly enough to be understood.


As he seemed lonely, I put a hen of the same species in with him..

She was always getting out of her aviary somehow, and I never

discovered how she got out. The daily catching of her became a.

nuisance, so I put her in with the lonely one as a punishment. Ho

bosses her around, and makes amazing noises that are not Lorikeet

sounds.


I had heard that French moult does occur in the natural state, but

this is my first personal experience of it.


The bird is 2-|- years old, now, so I can see no reason to-

hope that he will ever grow feathers. He was very tame, and I used

to carry him round perched on my finger, and show him all the other

Parrots.



[A remarkable case of what appears to have been the condition known as;

“ French moult ” occurred in wild Red-rumped Parrakeets in the Adelaide district

some forty-five years ago, as recorded by Mr. Edwin Ashby, as follows, in The, Emu

for April, 1907, and referred to in this Magazine in June of that year. “ In the-

neighbourhood of the Adelaide Hills the Red-rumped Grass Parrakeet ( Psephotus ■

hcematonotus) was up till the years 1887-8, one of the commonest representatives-

of the family Psittcicidce. One of the early settlers in the Mount Barker district*

who settled there in 1839, says that they were most numerous in that neighbour¬

hood until the years named. I can endorse this as regards the years 1885 and!

1886, when I first visited the Colony. In the years 1887-8, a disease* if such ifc



