Improper Feeding by Wholesale Buyers and Importers - Natural Food of Parrots - Corresponding Food in Captivity - Evils of Careless Feeding - Dietary Requisites - Lime - Drinking and Bathing Water.

Suitability of food, always of surpassing importance, is obviously imperative in the case of the more valuable speakers. With reference to what I have already stated in a previous chapter, I will, first of all, once more point out that the wholesale buyer and importer have, up to the present, acted wrongly in this matter, and thus from the beginning sown the seeds of sickness or death. The large speakers are fed in their native places, after they are reared, with chewed maize, either with the same grain in a dry, hard condition, with or without the addition of ship-biscuits, or with bananas and other tropical fruits, as well as with boiled maize, boiled potatoes, etc, and many kinds - especially the lories - get soaked East Indian rice. Everyone who brings over parrots feeds them according to his own notions and knowledge, and it may well be imagined that one and the same species is frequently managed in many different ways. In this lies the cause of manifold evils, and there is, indeed, a most pressing necessity that the entire import trade in parrots, and their management on the way, should be regulated with uniformity. The wholesale dealers must make an effort in this direction by demanding strong, healthy birds, and this can only be obtained by having the food and management from the first arranged suitably and naturally. It may be objected that this is not possible until the mode of life and sustenance in a state of freedom is fully known. The attainment of this object would require considerable travel and exploration, which, unfortunately, would have to extend to very distant regions. I can, however, most decidedly - as it is - express the opinion and repeat it, that the present modes of importation of all - and especially of the larger parrots - are, without exception, more or less pernicious.

It is unquestionable that all the last-named birds, when in freedom, live chiefly on farinaceous seeds, to a slight extent on oily seeds, and partly, also, on the fresh and delicate parts of plants. Therefore it is right to feed them in the new condition mostly with maize, together with some oats and the addition of some well-baked wheaten bread, not sour. The maize may be given either raw or boiled. The latter must be done in the following way : It must be soaked until a grain taken out will receive the impression of the finger-nail; then the water must be poured off, and the grains rubbed dry with a coarse linen cloth. The wheaten bread, say, French bread, or Vienna rolls (not milk bread), must be stale and dried till hard, then broken in pieces and moistened with the smallest possible quantity of water. When it is perfectly soft the crust should be taken off with a knife, and the crumb alone squeezed, so that the whole is soft and crumby, but not sticky or doughy.

Mr. Karl Hagenbeck was the first to point out, and I entirely agree with him, that all mashy food - that is to say, moistened bread, boiled maize, and the like - are injurious to these parrots, and their use, be it for a short time or for long, is dangerous.

They should, therefore, be accustomed to feed only on hard dry maize - horse's tooth in preference to pearl - and oats, both, of course, in the very best condition, also on well-baked, dry, not fresh, yet by no means old and dry, wheaten bread, which must on no account be mouldy, smell damp, or taste sour; instead of this, the well-known ship's biscuit may be given dry and unmoistened. The grains of maize, when they are given dry, must first be scalded with boiling water to kill any possible animal or vegetable parasitical vermin; of course, it is necessary, after the water has been poured off, to rub them with a clean cloth and put them in a hot place to dry well. With this simple food one may, in my opinion, keep the larger parrots constantly in good condition and avoid all evil or danger.

As soon as the parrot has become quite at home and thoroughly healthy and strong, one may begin to give it some refreshing additions in the shape of fruit. This should be carefully done with a cherry, grape, a piece of apple, of pear, or the like, according to the season, all, of course, in the best condition. One must, however, at first carefully notice the excretions of the bird, and, if they are slimy, watery, or, indeed, even loose, the giving of fruit must be at once discontinued. Maize in the head and in a half-ripe condition, in a milky state, as it is usually called, may be given with equal or even better effect, the same precaution being used. As occasional tit-bits for the large talkers, hazel or walnuts, the so-called Brazilian earth nuts, or even sweet almonds, may be given, but a rule should be made that all such things should first be carefully tasted, to make sure that no bad, decayed, kernel or bitter almond be amongst them; the last-named is well known to be a poison, and it may here be incidentally remarked that parsley is considered poisonous for parrots. All southern fruits, such as bananas, dates, figs, oranges, etc, should not be given at all to the large speakers, or only with the greatest caution, each fruit being carefully tasted first. In the same way raw or boiled carrots, raw or roasted sweet chestnuts, melons, raisins, and different berries should be avoided, for one cannot be sure whether they may not be hurtful; on the contrary, perfectly ripe, fresh, or well-dried roan or service berries may be given without hesitation. Green food I consider superfluous for the members of this group; salad, or leaves of the different cabbages, are also dangerous. However, twigs to gnaw may always be given, at first of dry, moderately-hard, wood; when quite accustomed to this, the bird may have branches with bark, buds, or leaves, preference being given to willow, poplar, all kinds of fruit trees, birch, beech, and even pine woods. I consider the very hard woods, containing tanning acids, as less suitable. Every parrot needs wood to gnaw, firstly, as a natural employment for its beak, and, secondly, as a fresh and suitable nourishment. An experienced parrot keeper, Mr. C. Dulitz, has pointed out the true inclination for animal or vegetable fat, and, in accordance with this opinion, many amateurs give, every day, a little piece of bread not too thickly spread with butter. Mr. Hagenbeck also allows a small piece of light cake, not too fatty, but I prefer to give some good light dry biscuit; now and then a little piece of the best hard sugar cannot do any harm. It is probably well known that all the large parrots eat with avidity all kinds of human sustenance, roast meat, vegetables, potatoes, and, indeed, strange to say, not only sweet things, but also either salted, pickled, or peppery delicacies, and cases have been known where a bird, thus fed, has kept in excellent health and lived many years; but, as a rule, valuable parrots are lost by the use of such unnatural food. The first consequence is frequently a miserable ailing condition, in which the bird itself plucks out its feathers; of this I shall speak further in the section "Diseases." In other cases various evils occur, only too often an illness in the whole body, so that the poor creature must die miserably of internal and external ulcers. It is not yet fully determined whether parrots which are kept separately in a cage really need animal food, such as mealworms or ant grubs. The African traveller, Soyaux, says that the Grey Parrots are known in West Africa as destroyers of the nests of other birds, and there are many examples of the different kinds of parrots in freedom being carnivorous; but who can positively decide whether this is a natural or an abnormal occurrence ?