276 Mrs. Darnton—Successful Breeding of Layard’s Parrakeet


pushed through the bars. On asking to see her more closely, she was

immediately hauled out of her cage by her delighted owner, who with

pride placed her on his shoulder, saying, “ See Missy, how tame she is ! ”

On pulling her wings out (getting a nasty little bite in the process),

I found the reason for at least some of her tameness—all her flight

feathers had been cut off short ! After the usual bargaining I bought

her, and a very demure and charming little bird she proved to be, for

after the first few days she would let me handle and pet her without

attempting to use her beak.


The cock, a particularly large bird, in immature plumage, we bought

a few days later from a villager near the Kandyan pass. They both

travelled home successfully : Jane, the hen, spending last summer

in a cage waiting for her wing feathers to grow.


In the autumn, when she was once more able to fly, she was turned

into a large bird-room, with her future mate and some young Plum-

heads. During last winter the cock came into full adult plumage

and a very fine bird he turned out to be. Towards the middle of last

April both Layards were put into their breeding quarters—-a large

aviary with a flight 30 feet long by 4 feet wide—but the weather

was so cold that, although they were both very interested in their

nest-box—of the “ grandfather clock ” type—the hen did not lay

until about 20th May. She had three eggs, white of course, and large

for the size of the bird. She sat very steadily and hatched two young,

which I took a peep at when they were a few days old. Even for

baby Parrakeets they struck me as being particularly ugly and mis¬

shapen, and they were quite naked.


By the 6th of July they were beginning to show green at the end

of their quills, and as Jane seemed to have no objection to my looking

at them, I used to peer into their box every few days. They were

quite extraordinarily steady, cocking their heads and gazing at me

quite fearlessly, and never attempting to make the hysterical noises

that most young Parrakeets think it their duty to terrify one with,

when they see that they are being inspected. The weather was now

tropically hot, and Jane spent most of the day sitting dozing at the

entrance hole of the box, no doubt making life below extremely stuffy

and airless for her young offspring. Nevertheless, they seemed to



