344 The Marquess of Tavistock—Breeding Results of 1938


a few days after leaving the nest, received, during the night, mysterious

and severe injuries, and although she recovered, she will never be

able to fly.


Broad-tailed Parrakeets on the whole did well. My old pair of

Yellow-mantled Parrakeets reared nine young in two broods.


The old hen Mealy duplicated, on a slightly extended scale, her

rather remarkable performance of last year. She laid six eggs on

alternate days, starting to sit almost with the first, and then getting

egg-bound with the seventh. On being returned to the aviary, she

was a very long time settling down, and did not begin to sit until

more than ten days were past. However, she hatched six eggs and

reared six healthy young ones, the seventh egg disappearing.


Her daughter of 1937, mated to an imported cock, also put up a

very fine record for a young bird, rearing nine young in two broods,

all as strong and well grown as could be desired.


Stanley Parrakeets which lost their young in the nest last year

successfully reared four this season, although two succumbed later

to ailments of microbic origin, which always seem to carry off a certain

percentage of one’s immature Broadtails, no matter how carefully

they are housed and treated.


Tasmanian Yellow-bellied Parrakeets reared nine in one brood,

the largest number of young Broadtails I have ever had from the

same nest.


Yellow-rumped Parrakeets, which bred successfully in 1935, proved

a failure, as they did last year. The hen was a very long time in taking

to a nest, although the cock used both persuasion and force in trying

to induce her to do so. On one occasion, when she had been messing

about for an inordinate length of time, half in and half out of the nest-

box, he lost all patience, and made one dive at her to inflict a bite on

the rear portion of her person ! Eventually, when the summer was

well advanced, she began to behave as though she had laid, and my

aviary attendant even thought that later he heard young, but when

we came to examine the nest, there was no sign of anything, so that

what happened remains somewhat of a mystery.


The two pairs of Blue-bonnets did nothing, although both hens

entered the nest occasionally, and one pair looked decidedly hopeful,



