G. H. Blair—Galahs



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Accordingly, a stated day having been appointed, I collected the

64 pink and grey Parrot ” and proudly conveyed “ it ” to my home.


I say “ it ” because at that time I had no idea of the sex, and, of course,

that was the next thing to be discovered.


Now another weakness I have other than birds is books, and I have

collected all kinds of literature on birds. I delved into various books

and articles and came to the definite conclusion that my Galah was

a hen. Naturally the next step was to find a cock, but this did not seem

quite as easy as I should have liked, because although I went to see

several Galahs they all turned out to be hens.


Some considerable time had now passed, in fact, even had I found

a cock the end of the breeding season had arrived so there was no hope

of doing anything that year. However, I had won the bird’s affection,

and I dare not go round my aviaries without stopping at the one she

occupied for a little tete-a-tete. She became so tame that I could walk

about my garden with her on my shoulder without any attempt at

escape.


But the great day eventually arrived—-I heard of another Galah,

and on visiting the house where it was kept I found, to my delight, that

it was a beautiful cock. The deal was very soon satisfactorily con¬

cluded and I returned triumphantly with the “ gentleman It wn,s

December, but a day or two after I got him home we had a very mild

spell of weather, and I decided to introduce the couple. I had no

intention of permanently releasing the cock but “ the best laid schemes

. . On the Sunday morning I took him down in his cage to the hen

and hung him in the flight. There was an immediate display of interest,

which rapidly developed into enthusiasm, so I opened the cage door.

Instead of him making his exit she, the forward miss, was in the cage

with him. It was a case of love at first sight. After much screeching

and raising and lowering of crests she tempted him (how old this

feminine accomplishment is) out of the cage, and there, perforce, he

stayed because I couldn’t get him into the cage again. I visited that

aviary with trepidation every morning for weeks because the weather

changed and we had a spell of fog and frost. He didn’t seem tc mind,

however, and the two birds seemed to spend hours preening each other’s

feathers.



