342 The Marquess of Tavistock—Breeding Results of 1938


stop her from making any more attempts at breeding before 1939, but

in order to do so was obliged to separate ber from ber mate, as otherwise

she would undoubtedly have tried to lay again, even though deprived

both of nest-box and roosting-box.


Hen Blue Lories are rather liable to suffer from egg-laying troubles,

and require a high temperature in their aviary shelter when laying,

combined with ample facilities for exercise in the fresh air, and a course

of lime-water in their food for some time before the nests are put in.


The Palm Cockatoos came into breeding condition in March, and

for a time raised my hopes greatly. Both cock and hen went into a

natural hollow tree-trunk in the aviary flight, paired, and appeared

to be on the point of laying. When all seemed to be going well, however,

I went out one morning to discover that they had had a violent disagree¬

ment and the cock was attacking the hen angrily, and refusing to

allow her on the perches at all. After a time they became reconciled,

but there was a further disagreement of the same kind a few days later.

This was followed by another reconciliation, after which they appeared

to take to a log in the aviary shelter and to be sitting, as they took turns

in being inside. When, however, we examined the log after some

weeks had passed, we discovered nothing in it at all, and the cock’s

curious behaviour was then explained. His wife had forgotten to lay

any eggs, and he was naturally incensed at the serious omission, and

was only with difficulty persuaded to embark on the thankless task of

incubating the abstract idea of eggs which weren’t there ! Always a

strange and quaint bird, the Palm Cockatoo is certainly at its oddest

when love-making, the advances of the two sexes to each other being

most amusing to watch. Out of the breeding season, a pair are not

on particularly affectionate terms, and the hen is apt to be rather

afraid of the cock, and to keep out of his way. When they are thinking

of nesting, however, all this is changed, and she becomes very demon¬

strative, tickling his face with the long feathers of her crest in order

to induce him to preen the back of her head. As this hen disappointed

me in a similar way last year, I have decided to get rid of her and have

replaced her by another who, I hope, will be less forgetful in the matter

of eggs !


My old hen Banksian Cockatoo, as she often does, laid on the floor



