Psittacus roseicollis, Russ. Synonyms: Agapornis roseicollis, Bp.; Psittacus pullarius, var., Lchtst.;

ROSY FACED - LOVE BIRD.

Psittacus parasiticus, Tmk. ?; Psittacula roseicollis, Wgl., etc.

German: Der Rosenpapagei.

ALTHOUGH bearing much resemblance to the subject of the last notice, this is a different bird, inhabiting Southern Africa, up to the Equator, while the Bed-faced species is found on the western coast as far as Angola, whence it is frequently called, especially of older writers, the Guinea Parrot, or "Paroquet."

The Rosy-faced Love-bird is about the same size as its red-visaged congener, and like the latter, the general colour of the plumage is grass green, the forehead is scarlet, the cheeks and the throat are rosy-red, the rump and upper tail coverts are sky-blue, and the under surface of the wings blackish grey: the beak is greenish grey, the tail green with reddish, blue, and black diagonal bands.

The scarlet frontlet is of a fainter shade in the female.

The green plumage of the young is darker and the red fainter than in the parent birds, and the beak has a blackish tip.

Why these birds should be so very much dearer than their Bed-faced relatives is one of those mysteries that to the connoisseur appear to be inscrutable, for they are, in every way, the more desirable of the two species, yet they are very seldom to be obtained, and then only at fancy prices: Dr. Buss says "from one hundred and eighty marks (shillings) for the pair."

As we have said, the Bed-faced Love-birds have not been produced in captivity, but the Rosy-faced nest very readily in confinement, several amateurs in Germany having bred them to the third and fourth generation.

A most interesting account of his success, and that of his friends in breeding these rare birds is given in Dr. Russ's Fremdlandischen Stubenvogel, but is too long for reproduction here.

When referring to the next species to be considered in these pages, we will give directions for treatment, which in all three species is exactly alike.

Exigencies of space compel us to defer until a future occasion the consideration of several other members of this sub-family of the Psit-tacidce, which are, all, more at home in a good-sized aviary, where they have room to exercise their wings, and logs on which to whet their beaks, than in cages, where they mope and doze, and before dying of inanition, present for months a woeful spectacle of hopelessness and despair.

We may here repeat our protest against aviary-cages, in which beginning amateurs are so apt to crowd a number of birds of all sorts and sizes, quite irrespective of the habits and dispositions of the various species, thrust nolens, volens, into each other's society, with the inevitable result of disaster and death to the greater number in the course of a few weeks or, at latest, months.

Let your birds have plenty of room; or, if your space is restricted, limit the number of your birds: it is better to have two or three healthy handsome specimens, than a crowd of half-nude, miserable-looking captives.

The following interesting account of this species from Dr. Brehm's Animal Life, has been translated by Mrs. Cassirer, of Paris, expressly for the present work: -

"South-west Africa is the habitat of this species, especially Angola, Damara, Caffer and Namaqua Land; but, according to Kirk, it is also to be met with in the South-east, chiefly in the Zambesi district. To the best of my knowledge Andersson is the only traveller who has described the habits of these birds when at liberty. He says: 'This pretty little Parrot is to be met with all over Damara and Great Namaqua Land, it is also found in Owakango and near Lake Ngami, but always in small flocks, and never very far from water. At least once a day they resort to the water springs. The Peach-face has an unusually rapid flight; the small flocks fly by, swift as an arrow, on their way to their feeding or drinking places, yet rarely traverse great distances in a single flight. While flying, or when suddenly alarmed, they utter a series of shrill cries. Their food consists of berries, and large berry-like seeds. They do not build a nest for themselves, but take possession of those of other birds, especially those of the Siedel Sparrow and Mahali Weaver Birds. I am unable to say whether they drive out the owners, or only take such as have already been abandoned; but I have seen about an equal number of Siedel Sparrows and Peach-faced Parrots located under one roof-tree.'"

"The Peach-faced Love-birds which I have myself kept", continues Dr. Brehm, "and watched in captivity, have greatly excited my interest. Their manner and habits contrast advantageously with those of other dwarf Parrots: they are evidently more intelligent, bodily and mentally active, possess all the engaging qualities of their relatives, and others in addition, which render them very attractive. They always maintain their plumage in perfect order, they are very gay, generally on the move and chattering, amiable with other birds, affectionate towards their mate, and devoted to their offspring.

" Their movements in climbing resemble those of other small Parrots, but they also remind us of the Hanging, or Bat Parrakeets, since like these they occasionally hang themselves from the roof of their cage. Their voice is almost too shrill for a small room, but in a larger space, whether kept in an open flight cage, or otherwise, it gives little or no annoyance. It may best be described as a twittering, now and then prolonged into trills.

" Sometimes the male bird sits motionless, ruffled up, and with closed eyes, as if absorbed in thought, and twitters forth a little song, the single notes of which resemble his ordinary call, yet so softened and modified by connecting sounds, which vary so considerably in strength and accentuation, that an agreeable variety results.

" Winning as the Peach-face is when kept in single pairs, or several together, it is not until they prepare to breed that we are made aware of all their peculiarities. By accident I became acquainted with their indispensable requirements. When I obtained my first pair of Peach-faces, Andersson's observations as to their habits in a wild state were not yet published, so that I had of course no suspicion that they differed so considerably in their nesting arrangements from those common to other dwarf Parrots and Parrakeets. My pets were paired, displaying the greatest affection for each other by repeated caresses, but did not commence to breed earnestly; they became as quarrelsome toward their little companions the Weaver Birds, as they were amiable toward those of their own kind, destroying their nests, and being generally troublesome. I put this down to wantonness, and did not interfere.

"They slipped in and out of the nest-box designed for them, but seemed to look upon it more as a place of concealment than a nesting place. They were evidently anxious to breed, and as plainly were in want of something. As they had hitherto only accepted grain as food, it occurred to me they might be bud-eaters, and I therefore procured leafy green sprays of willow for them. In a few minutes they had • perched upon them, quickly stripping off the leaves and gnawing the buds and bark. At first it seemed to me that this employment too was due rather to a love of mischief, than to any desire to use them as food; however on observing them more closely, I noticed that they had at length found the wished-for nesting material.

"Skilfully ripping off a piece of the peel, from six to ten c. in length, then taking it in her beak, so that one end projects about three c, the hen bends her head back, ruffles up the feathers on her rump, nestles with her beak among them, smooths them down again, and then the splinter remains fastened in the plumage. A second, third, sixth, and even eighth are thus ripped off and secured; many fall on the ground, and are taken no further notice of, many, too, are pulled out by the too officious mate; at length however some remain in place, the Parrot rises, flies slowly and cautiously to the nesting place, enters it well laden with chips, and emerges without her burden.

"Whether other dwarf Parrots act in a similar manner or not, I do not know, but consider it probable. At present (1882) I am the only person who has observed this unique habit. The whole history of birds offers no parallel to it: no single bird (not even excepting the Quaker Parrot, which builds large uncovered nests on trees) of all those with whose habits of propagation we are acquainted, conveying the nesting materials to the nest in this peculiar manner."

Commenting on these remarks, Mrs. Cassirer observes: "Here you will notice that Dr. Brehm chooses to ignore Dr. Russ's publications with regard to the Grey Head (Agapornis carta) entirely. The date of My Birds by Dr. Brehm is 1882, and already in Dr. Russ's Handbook of 1878 the correct account of the manner of carrying fragments to the nest by both P. roseicollis and P. canus was given, pp. 254-255."

"As to when the first egg was laid, how long it took to hatch", continues Dr. Brehm, "and how long the cradle time of the young ones lasted, I cannot say, as I feared to disturb the birds by examining the nest. I was only able to ascertain that the latter was made of peelings, and resembles two thirds of a hollow hemisphere, that the white egg is very round and comparatively large, that the young birds emerge, from two to five in number, about ten or eleven weeks after the first pairing, and that their plumage is duller and darker than that of their parents; and the beak blackish. They are fed by both parents not only with vegetable substances, but also with Nightingale food, which permits the assumption that in a state of liberty the parents would also provide them with insect food. Immediately after the first brood, and before the young are quite independent, the old birds proceed to the second, and, it seems, the last of the season."

We may remark in conclusion of the subject, that in default of the peel of green twigs, these birds make use of strips of paper, straw and feathers, with which they construct themselves a nest in the box, or basket they have selected as the cradle of their future offspring.

This deviation from the general habit of the family of nesting in holes in trees, on the bare wood, is exceedingly curious, and affords scope for abundant reflection: how can the singular habit have originated? probably owing to a scarcity of hollow branches, in default of which the first available receptacle for the eggs and young was taken advantage of, whether Weaver Bird's nest, or some cavity in a rock, so hard that the tender eggs were broken; a sad experience that suggested the necessity of making a soft bed for their reception. But why carry the fragments between the feathers of the rump? Yes, why? when a beak was available, and so much better adapted for the purpose? Why indeed! Clearly some deficiency of reasoning power here. Our own Love-birds evinced no tendency toward nest-building, but deposited their eggs in a cocoa-nut husk, with the exception of one Madagascar hen, who carried a few pieces of straw into her husk, whether on her back or not we cannot say; but, as Mrs. Cassirer remarks, "they may have been younger birds, or less conservative in their habits", probably the former assumption is the more correct, for Mrs. Cassirer's hen, which that lady thinks "is undoubtedly an oldish bird, and has most probably already nested at least once in a state of freedom", made herself a cradle of scraps of paper, feathers and bits of hay, which shows how birds adapt themselves to circumstances: ours, not finding themselves under the necessity of constructing one, made no attempt to build a nest, and our friend's continued the custom she had learned from her relatives in her native woods.

All the Agapornis family is extremely amorous in disposition, and makes no scruple of pairing with any other solitary Parrakeet with which it may be consorted in an aviary; for instance, we have seen one of these birds mate with a hen Cockatiel more than three times his size, and another with a New Zealand Parrakeet of scarcely less dimensions; whether any progeny would result from such ill-assorted unions we have had no opportunity of proving; for the birds so mated, scarcely matched, did not nest, although they appeared much attached to each other.

We have also seen solitary male birds of this sub-family endeavouring to attract the attention of females of a totally different genus, as for example a Canary, and a Saffron Finch, which both seemed greatly terrified by the Love-birds' advances, and could by no means be induced to listen to them for a moment: so that we have no doubt that any aviarist whose speciality was "mules", would have a wide field here in which to make experiments.

For our part we have no liking for hybrids, which are seldom much to look at, and are useless to those whose inclination prompts them to watch the reproduction in this cold and changeable climate of the denizens of tropical and sub-tropical regions, for they are invariably barren, and incapable of perpetuating their kind. In cases where the offspring of a "cross" proves itself to be fruitful, we are of opinion that the parents are varieties of the one and not two distinct species: for example, all the different varieties of the Domestic Pigeon will breed together, and produce a fruitful offspring, mongrel if the reader wishes, but certainly capable of generation: and the same thing happens with the common fowl; but mate the latter with a Turkey, or a Pheasant, and the progeny is absolutely barren. Whether the offspring of the cross union of the different species of Agapornis would be mongrels, or hybrids, we are not yet in a position to determine: but we are trying some experiments in this direction, which we expect will decide the question before long.