The Marquess of Tavistock—The Breeding of Lutino Bingnecks 239


The small hen had one addled egg and one with a dead chick with

the usual dent in the shell.


The third pair had two young but both were green. These were

reared and are fair specimens. Once more, it seemed, I must wait for

the coming of another season with my stock reduced by a hen no longer

breeding ; but the unexpected happened. For the first time in her life

the small hen laid again ! Her mate was duly removed when hatching

drew near and, amazing to relate, she hatched both her eggs. Still

more amazing both young birds proved to be lutinos and fine specimens

at that. They are now out of the nest and flying strongly. Though I

could wish she were more skilful in the handling of her eggs, I have

nothing but praise for the devotion of the scrubby little green mother.

So poor a flier that she gets about entirely by climbing, late in the

season and single-handed, she has done her offspring so well that they

look as though they had been reared by wild Bingnecks of the best

quality. But it will not do to rely on appearances too far ; if they

live to reach breeding age I shall mate them to strong wild greens

and thus try and eliminate any faults, constitutional or moral, that

may have come down to them from their dubious ancestry !


The results of this somewhat protracted experiment indicate that

every pair of lutino-bred greens will produce a percentage of lutinos

if mated inter se. Probably this rule holds good with the breeding

of all rare colour varieties of Parrakeets. For some reason or other it

is usually, in practice, wise to get all the young you can from your

rare-coloured bird mated to normal wild ones and pair the progeny

inter se and not to break your original pair in order to mate son to

mother or father to daughter ; the result of the latter venture is apt

to be infertile eggs and wasted seasons.


Of the young Bingnecks from lutino-bred parents that have lived

long enough for their colour to be discernible, eight have been green

and five lutino, which is, I think, very near the Mendelian percentage.



