Helmut Hampe—Tame Lovebirds



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There is a possibility that the hand-reared bird will not mate with

its own kind, but prefers human society. This does happen, and it

may be that the instincts of a perfectly tame bird have been so far

changed that even when it has paired a normal brood is doubtful and

unlikely. For instance, Pansa always wanted to help in feeding his

nestlings directly they were hatched, whereas a cock Lovebird does not

normally undertake this duty until a good deal later.


He insisted on going into the nest-box as soon as the young were

hatched, greatly to his wife’s displeasure, who refused to let him

approach them. Every time wild screaming and quarrelling took

place until the uninvited guest was driven out. It was a matter of

astonishment to me that the young were not injured on these occasions.

Whether Pansa really intended to feed or to pluck and nibble them

I cannot say; if the latter it was an abnormality not caused by his

tameness, but a consequence of captivity, for it is well known that

many Lovebirds have this unnatural habit of devouring the feathers

and skin of their young. Pansa did it to the older nestlings.


Pansa naturally lost some of his tameness through being paired,

but as for some months previously he was kept single and had become

very attached to me, it did not make much difference. To the end

he always flew first on to my shoulder as soon as he was let out and

busied himself with me. He did not go so often to my wife unless she

was sewing, when his delight was to catch hold of her needle and

unthread it. He partook of everything at meals and was extremely

importunate. When he w r as satisfied he flew back to his cage in order

to feed his babies. The tame hen, of course, accompanied him except

when she was sitting. I could even take him into the garden ; he

flew away once and we got him back through an advertisement, but

after this he would no longer let himself be held nor would he nestle

in one’s hand ; this was probably not so much the consequence of

shyness due to mating as because I had sometimes picked him up

hastily and shut him in. That all birds resent and remember this is

common experience.


Pansa and even more his tame hen fiercely defended their nest

against me, which made control difficult; even feeding was not too

easy, because every time a hand was put in to change a food vessel



