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E. J. Boosey—Bourke s Parrakeet



which extra oats and a very small quantity of hemp have been added)

being thrown daily on top of a flat mound of earth in the open run,

where any that is not eaten at once will probably be consumed later

on when it has started to sprout.


The object of throwing seed on the ground when there are young

in the nest is to induce the parents to eat rather more than they

otherwise would, because for some extraordinary reason, nearly all

Parrakeets will rush eagerly down to devour a handful of seed thrown

on the ground as though it were some rarely-provided and delicious

tit-bit, although a pot of precisely the same seed mixture is perpetually

before them on the seed tray. The behaviour of young Bourke’s when

they first leave the nest is extremely variable. Some are stupidly wild,

others excessively tame—so much so that they will step on to your

finger and allow you to carry them into the shelter—where, for safety,

they should always be confined each night for at least the first ten days

after they are fledged.


As, however, the majority of nestlings are at first desperately

wild it is a wise precaution to line their aviary entirely with taut

string netting about six inches from the wire, or else to cover the

furthest end (where they are most likely to injure themselves) with

a protective hedge of twiggy branches to break the impact if they

dash against it. This should be done in good time before the young

ones fledge.


Nothing is more nerve-racking than to have to watch a young

bird battering itself wildly against the hard wire netting when one

knows that to enter the aviary with the idea of helping would only

be to make matters worse. It is a curious fact with regard to two of

the breeding pairs of Bourke’s here at the Keston Foreign Bird Farm

that the tamest and steadiest pair produce the wildest young ones, and

vice versa.


Bourke’s are not particularly fond of green food, but even so,

when they have young to feed this does not apparently prevent them

from eating any rank and laxative weeds that may be growing in

their aviary, which is most disastrous to the young brood, who

frequently develop nestling diarrhoea as a result.


It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that the outside flight



