10 S. Harvey—Breeding the Splendid or Scarlet-chested Parrakeet


going to start it became very wet and cold, and they appeared to give

np all thoughts of nesting. They did not take any more interest in

the log until 12th July, when the hen again visited the same log. On

14th July the cock was feeding the hen. Both were very restless,

continually chasing each other, and the cock still persisted in trying

to coax the hen to nest in the box, but she was determined to take

her own choice. Some mornings the hen would be seen on the perch

inside the house and the cock on the floor running all over the place

very excitedly, all the time chirping and looking up at his mate as if

trying to entice her down with him. This performance occurred

repeatedly and was a very interesting sight. For a day or so the hen

was continually entering the log, but did not stay long at first; after

a while her visits were more prolonged. On 18th and 19th July she

spent most of the day in the log. When I returned home at 5.15 on

the 19th she was off, but within two or three minutes returned to the

nest and remained there for the night, so I was satisfied that she had

now commenced sitting. It was nearly a week before she was seen

again and then for only a few minutes. The cock was very often seen

entering the log to feed the hen, sometimes going right in, but more

often sitting in the entrance and stretching down, when only half

of his tail could be seen.


After they had been sitting a month I felt rather worried

because the hen was still in the log and no sound of young

ones feeding had been heard. I had made up my mind not to go

near them ; it was very difficult to keep away, especially as I thought

something had gone wrong. On 26th August I went for a holiday

and returned on 5th September. The first inquiry on returning was to

ascertain if any sound of young had been heard, the reply was “ No ”, so

I immediately took the log down, removed the top, and, on looking down,

the hen moved to one side showing two eggs. I then put a stick down

and moved her further aside, but could see nothing else. The log

was then laid on the ground (the top had been replaced) and the bottom

was removed and the dirt was emptied out; amongst this were two

young ones that had died soon after hatching.


While all this was going on the hen made no attempt to leave the

nest, she just went to the top of the log. Fresh wood dust was put



