We desire to dissuade our readers, in the strongest terms, from purchasing cages made of bra.s.s wire for their parrot, or indeed for any other bird. Bra.s.s is terribly apt to produce verdigris, especially in London or in any other large town, and where gas is much used; and as birds, and parrots especially, are fond of nibbling the wires, they may be poisoned, and die a painful death.

Should, however, the bird be trustworthy, we would recommend one of the common crutch perches, to which the bird is secured by a chain, having one end fastened to a ring on its foot, and the other end affixed to the crutch. If the room in which the bird is kept will permit the arrangement, by far the best plan is to add a strong twisted wire to the crutch, and carry it to the ceiling, as is done in the Crystal Palace.

The chain, instead of being fastened to the crutch, terminates in a ring, which slides upon the upright wire, and permits the bird to mount or descend at will.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Polly will be charmed with this addition to her range of locomotion, and the sight of his pet bird enjoying herself cannot fail to repay the owner for the slight extra trouble he has taken.

Parrots are very fond of exercising their strong beaks, and are apt to gnaw their perches so incessantly, that they cut them in two, despite the hardness of the material. Prevention, they say, is better than cure; and if the young parrot-owner will take care to give his bird now and then a stout piece of elm wood, with the bark not removed, he will find that Polly will prefer to tear and rasp away at the elm board to biting her hard perch, where there is no bark to be stripped off.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE c.o.c.kATOO.]

The pretty c.o.c.katoos are always great favourites, their form being very elegant, their colour delicate, and their talkative powers very great.

These birds are natives of Australia and the Indian Islands, and derive their name from the peculiar cry of some members of their kind, which exactly resembles the word c.o.c.katoo.

The two species generally found in captivity are the great Wide-crested c.o.c.katoo, known by the crest of broad and slightly-hollowed feathers which decorate the head, and which can be raised and even thrown forward when the bird is excited with pleasure or anger. The colour of this bird is white, and the under surface of the crest is tinged with red. It comes from the Moluccas, and is deservedly in favour as a pet, being docile, affectionate, and very quaint in its habits.

The other species is the Lesser, or Sulphur-crested, c.o.c.katoo, also from the Moluccas and Indian Islands. It is easily known by the pointed sulphur-yellow crest, which is continually being raised and thrown forward. Both kinds can learn to talk to some extent, though they are not such admirable linguists as their kinsmen the parrots.

The pretty Ring Paroquet is a native of the East Indies, and is a very familiar inhabitant of our aviaries and cages. It is a gentle creature, and most affectionate to a kind owner. It is mightily fond of walnuts, and the bird can be kept in a state of great good-humour for an hour or more by giving it half a one, and telling it to pick out the contents with its hooked bill. The bird seems perfectly happy, holding the nut in one claw, shifting it with great dexterity, so as to get it into the best position for extracting the kernel, and uttering the while a little, low chuckle of gratification. The colloquial powers of this bird are moderate; but it does not learn so readily, nor repeat so accurately, as the grey or green parrot.

The Macaws are notable for their very long tails, very big beaks, and very brilliant colouring. The two species usually seen in England are the Scarlet and the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw. They come from Southern America, and have a most magnificent appearance while flying from tree to tree, with the sunbeams flashing from their gorgeous plumage.

As a pet, the macaw is rather too noisy, and has a horribly loud and dissonant yell by way of a cry. It is, however, a magnificent bird, often measuring more than a yard in length. The colour of the plumage is almost entirely of a rich glowing scarlet, relieved here and there by a little blue, yellow, and green.

The Blue-and-Yellow Macaw is another native of tropical America, and though not so gorgeously resplendent a bird as its scarlet relation, is yet a remarkably handsome creature. As may be surmised from its popular appellation, the colour is chiefly of the two tints blue and yellow, mixing occasionally so as to produce green.

Without going too deeply into minute details, it will suffice to say that the upper part of the back, the wings, and the tail are azure blue, and the under part king's yellow. On the forehead is a patch of green, the chin is black, and the cheeks are white and naked, with the exception of three narrow bands of very tiny feathers drawn successively beneath the eyes.

The parrot tribe may be fed upon various vegetable substances, such as grain of different kinds, seeds, nuts, Indian corn, and biscuits. The stones of peaches are great favourites with these birds, who derive much amus.e.m.e.nt from picking with their scoop-like tongues the soft fruit from the interstices of the rough stone.

They ought not to have any kind of animal food, not even milk, which is frequently recommended for their use, as their systems are apt to become heated, and then they pull away their feathers in their attempts to alleviate the irritation. Sometimes a parrot will pluck itself bare in every part where its bill can reach, and so injure itself materially. A capsic.u.m pod now and then is, however, a treat, and may be given sparingly. Be careful to use gla.s.s or earthenware pans for their food, and see every morning that the cage and pans are quite clean and bright.

PIGEONS.

The practice of rearing pigeons for fancy or amus.e.m.e.nt has been for a long time prevalent in England. In ancient times the "dove-cote" was a general appendix to the family hall or farmer's homestead; and at the present time it may still occasionally be observed peering above the trees in country districts; while in London the pigeon-loft, with its "dormers," "area," "traps," and other appliances, may be frequently seen on the house-tops, more especially in the districts inhabited by the working cla.s.ses.

Pigeons live together in pairs; and when a c.o.c.k and hen once form an attachment, the union generally lasts during their lives. The pigeon in a wild state breeds only twice or thrice in the season, but the domestic birds will breed every six weeks, or during the greater part of the year.

Whatever number of broods a pair of pigeons may bring up in a year, the hen never lays but two eggs before she sits. She incubates for eighteen days after the laying of the second egg. Both the c.o.c.k and hen a.s.sist in the hatching: the hen usually sits from the afternoon till about eleven o'clock on the following morning; the c.o.c.k then takes her place, and sits while she goes out to feed and exercise herself, and generally keeps on the nest until two or three o'clock in the afternoon.

When first hatched, the young are fed for about eight days with a milky secretion prepared in the crop of the parents, and regurgitated into the mouth of the young, and afterwards with grain and seeds the old ones have picked up in the fields and treasured in their crops. In this mode of supplying the young with food from the crop birds of the pigeon kind differ from those of any other family.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Formerly it was common to erect buildings as dove-cotes in the neighbourhood of great country mansions: many of these were of considerable size and elevation, as shown in the engraving. The custom, however, has fallen into disuse, and pigeon-houses of more moderate sizes are now generally employed.

A small one is very often formed from a wine-cask, which has holes cut in its sides, and a small platform made before each, to form a resting-place in front for the birds to alight upon. The interior is divided into chambers by the carpenter, or any boy of common carpentering ingenuity may readily do it himself. The cask is then elevated on a stout thick scaffolding pole or the trunk of a straight tree, and made perfectly secure. In arranging the internal chambers for the birds care should be taken that they are large enough for them to turn round in with ease. The cote should be fixed in a warmish spot, and not exposed to cold easterly and northerly winds. The top of the cask should be thatched or boarded, and this protection should come well over the holes and sides of the cote, so as to protect it from the heat of the sun in summer and the drifting of the rain in unseasonable weather.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The young fancier may employ one after the fashion shown on the following page: this, with its compartments, may be fixed up against the south or south-west side of a stable, barn, or out-house. The outside should be well painted, and the alighting places slightly slanted, so that the water or rain may not lodge on them, but run off to the ground outside. The whole should be so placed that it can be approached by a ladder, which ought not to be permanently attached to the cote, or it may be a means for the intrusion of cats and vermin.

It sometimes happens that a spare loft or room presents itself to the young pigeon-fancier, which may be made use of for a pigeon-house. When this is the case, it can easily be filled up with pigeon-boxes, which may be arranged round the sides, while holes are made on the outside of the building for the pigeons to fly in and out at. Broad flat perches may also be placed across the room, upon which the birds may rest. The boxes for the nests should be at least a foot square.

It is far more advantageous and profitable to keep pigeons in a spare room than to employ the dove-cotes on a pole, or those fixed against the side of a house, as double the number of young birds may be reared, the nests being sheltered from the inclemency of the weather.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

As to the compartments, or nests, every one should be furnished with an earthenware nest-pan, of a size adapted to the pigeons for which they are intended. Sand or gravel should be sprinkled over the shelves and on the floor, as the small stones with which it abounds are useful to the birds in helping them to digest their food, and a little old mortar-rubbish or pounded burnt oyster-sh.e.l.ls should be given, to supply the lime necessary for the sh.e.l.ls of the eggs. Everything about them should be kept very clean, and the whole apparatus, of whatever kind it may be, should undergo a frequent and thorough purification, while the nest-pans or boxes should be well cleaned after every hatching.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

There is a contrivance of great use which is employed for letting into the loft those birds who may not happen to come home before the areas are closed for the night. The object of this door, which is called the "bolting wire," is to let the birds in without letting those in the loft pa.s.s out. It is made by placing before a square aperture cut in the pigeon-house a couple of wires about three inches apart from each other (as seen in the drawing): these swing loosely upon a piece of wood, which turns on a wire, and their lower ends come over the lower ledge on the inside. By this arrangement, when a bird outside presses against the bars and tries to get in, the whole opens inwards, and he easily enters; but if one from within tries to get out, the wires press against the ledge at the bottom, and effectually prevent his egress.

Within the pigeon-house should be placed boxes for the grain, pulse, and beans that the birds feed upon.

Pigeons are great devourers of food, and will eat any kind of grain, such as wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, vetches, Indian corn, tares, &c. Small beans, called pigeon's beans, are the best general food for all pigeons. If possible, the peas, beans, or tares given to the birds should be old, as new pulse is apt to disagree, and purge them. Hempseed is very stimulating, and although pigeons are very fond of it, it should be sparingly given.

Pigeons are very fond of lime and salt, and to supply themselves peck out the mortar from between the tiles. To prevent this, it is best to make them what is called a "cat," which will be exceedingly grateful to them, as it will tend to keep them in good health. This is done in the following manner:--

Mix some sifted gravel or earth with old mortar-rubbish, or pounded burnt sh.e.l.ls, if this cannot be obtained; add a few handfuls of salt; and make the whole into a ma.s.s with water. Portions of this may be put into flower-pots, and placed in situations where the birds can get at them easily.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MATING CAGE.]

Pigeons are often sadly annoyed by vermin. To prevent the increase of these intruders, the most scrupulous attention should be paid to cleanliness in every part of the houses, nests, and places of resort, and the birds should be provided with shallow pans of water to wash in.

Sometimes there is a little trouble attending the mating of pigeons, and it is of great importance that they should be properly matched, or the young will not be purely bred. The mating coops should have a thin lattice-work part.i.tion between them, so that the birds may make acquaintance with each other, and match together, when they may be placed in one pen. When they are properly mated, they may be left at liberty to arrange and build their nests, which they will do very readily. The ill.u.s.tration on the preceding page shows the construction of the mating cage.

VARIETIES OF PIGEONS.

The Columbidae, or family of pigeons, are one of the most numerous and most widely distributed families of birds. They are all vegetable feeders; and many congregate in flocks. But notwithstanding their numbers, general distribution, and beauty, only two, out of a great number of species, have been brought into subjection by man: these are the common pigeon, or house pigeon, known as the Rock pigeon when in the wild state, and abundant in several parts of the cliffy and caverned sh.o.r.es of the British Islands, and the Collared, or Cream-coloured dove, with a narrow black collar round the neck. This latter is frequently kept in confinement: it breeds freely if in very large cages, and it may be reared in the open air in this country if protected during severe winters.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

BLUE ROCK DOVE.

The Blue Rock dove is the undoubted origin of all the different varieties of domestic pigeons. It is a most beautiful bird; its general colour is blue, with two black bars across the wings. In some few of the large dove-cotes blue rocks still exist; but the pure race, uncontaminated by intermixture with any of the numerous varieties of domestic pigeons, is scarcely to be obtained except in the distant islands of the Hebrides, or in remote districts unfrequented by man. It is a swift flyer, a good forager, and a prolific bird; but its comparative wildness renders it ill adapted for a domestic pet.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE ANTWERP, OR SMERLE.

Smerles are the Flying Pigeons of Belgium. These extraordinary birds, that perform races of 500 miles, returning home to Brussels and the adjacent towns from the south of France, and even from Spain, closely resemble the blue rock in general form; but, as shown in the engraving, the feathers of the wings are rather broader, and the head and beak thicker and shorter. They are of various colours, as blue, checquered, red, mealy, &c. Their desire to return home is so great that it is useless to attempt to establish a stud of them, by liberating old birds, however long they may be shut up; the only plan is to rear young from them whilst confined in a room or loft, or to obtain young birds that have never flown at the place of their birth. These, from the peculiar noise they make, are termed "squeakers."