Psittaeus pulchellus, Russ. Synonyms: Euphema pulchella, Swns.; Nanodes pulchellus, Vgrs.;

TURQUOISINE.

Lathamus azureus, Lss.; Psittaeus Edwardsii, etc., etc.

German: Der Schonsittich.

THE Turquoisine is, without exception, one of the most charming members of the Parrot family, combining as it does in its small person the excellent qualities of comeliness, hardihood, docility, and amiability. In size it is about half as large again as the Budgerigar (Melospittacus undulatus); or to compare it with a species that has been already described in these pages, a third less than the Cockatiel.

The general colour of the plumage is dark green, the forehead and a circle round the eyes are sky-blue, the same colour extends to the chin, and is conspicuous on the Shoulders, which are also marked higher up with a reddish brown patch; the under wings coverts are blue, and the under parts of the body bright yellow.

The female resembles her mate in general appearance, but has less of the blue on her face and wings, and in her the red shoulder spot assumes a reddish brown shade.

Speaking of the size of this bird, Dr. Buss remarks, "Grosse der Feldterche, dock schlanker und mit langem, zugespitztem Schwanz." (The size of the Field-Lark, but more slender, and with long, sharp-pointed tail.)

A seed-eater, grass-seed eater, the Turquoisine offers no difficulty to the breeder in the matter of diet, canary and millet will keep him in perfect health and beauty for years: should it be desired, however, to get him to breed, he must be placed, with his wife, in a good-sized aviary, out of doors if possible, about the end of May, and be provided with suitable nesting-places in the shape of hollow logs, large cocoanut basks, and small boxes, though we prefer the former, and when he has a young family to be provided for, oats and crumbs of stale bread must be added to his daily bill of fare, and upon such rations he will rear a numerous family without any fuss or bother whatever.

In their wild state these birds are natives of the eastern coasts of Australia, not penetrating very far inland, and usually consorting in small companies of six or eight individuals, which are probably an old pair, and their offspring of the year. In her native country the female Turqnoisine has two broods in the season, of from three to five each; but in domesticity she is almost as indefatigable a breeder as the Cockatiel, producing from three to five broods in the year, and laying from four to eight eggs each time. Incubation lasts about eighteen days, but it is rather difficult to ascertain exactly, as she is apt to resent interference, and, if much molested, to forsake her nest.

As far back as 1861 the Turqnoisine was bred in Germany, and in Belgium; and in the London Zoological Gardens some of these birds have been bred almost every season for many years back.

A good many of these charming Parrakeets are annually reared on the continent, especially in Belgium and in Germany, while even in oar own cold and changeable climate a brood of young Torquoisines is not by any means of such rare occurrence, as might be imagined by persons unacquainted with foreign birds and their wonderful adaptability to all kinds of adverse circumstances and conditions.

Few members of the Parrot family are more elegant and graceful in figure than the Turquoisine; and, generally speaking, they are particularly quiet and amiable birds; exceptions to this rule, however, occur now and then, and the connoisseur would do well to ascertain the disposition of a particular pair before giving them their liberty in a mixed aviary, where, occasionally, some of these habitnally gentle birds have been known to play the tyrant over their smaller and more defenceless companions. But birds of all kinds vary so much in character and disposition that it is almost impossible from experience of a dozen individuals of any variety, to predicate what the idiosyncracy of the thirteenth will be, and caution should always be observed when introducing any bird, or birds, no matter how reputedly gentle and amiable, into an aviary that is already occupied by tenants of the same, of kindred, and especially of totally distinct species.

The Turquoisine on first arrival in this country is decidedly delicate, but a little careful nursing will soon restore it to health; the only complaints we have known those birds to suffer from are egg-binding and disease of the liver; the latter induced by too liberal an indulgence hemp-seed; canary-seed, with a few oats, and a morsel of dry bread will keep them in splendid health for years, particularly if they live in a well-grassed aviary out of doors: in the house, too much green food is apt to induce diarrhroa, and groundsel must be given sparingly, unless small and grown on very poor ground: but tufts of grass in flower will afford a rich treat which we have never known to disagree.

Egg-binding is a troublesome and too often fatal complication, of which the cause, or causes, are somewhat obscure, and which, in point of fact, is more readily prevented than cured. It may, we think, be taken for granted that a bird that suffers from egg-binding is a weak bird; consequently the aviarist should see that his pairs are in vigorous health, before he thinks of putting them up for breeding, or certain disappointment will be the result. If the cock is weak, the eggs run a great chance of being sterile, and if the hen is not in good health, either she will not lay, or will be egg-bound, or, worst fatality of all, she will die on her nest, after having deposited her eggs, or when her young brood are half-reared.

Here again prevention is preferable to cure, and if the birds are young, strong, and have plenty of room for exercise, not much need be feared: they will set about the work of reproducing their species with commendable assiduity, and their owner will derive not only pleasure, but profit, from their endeavours, for, as we have said, they are prolific in captivity, and the young of one season will, themselves, be parents in the next. An esteemed correspondent writes: "I think a great source of egg-binding is from the birds being too fat, from a continual diet of seed; I have found it so among poultry. Pullets when first beginning to lay are very liable to it when fed on maize, which makes them also very fat,"

It has been remarked that in-breeding is very prejudicial to some species, but is not particularly so in the case of the Turquoisine; though how far the sib-crossing might be carried with impunity, is somewhat difficult to determine: in any case the aviarist will do well to introduce new blood occasionally, and should he chance to notice any deterioration, either in point of colour, or of size, or strength, in his in-bred birds, he should, at once, separate the related pairs, and mate them with birds of a strange stock, but, of course, of the same species.

As we have seen it stated that the Turquoisine is a quarrelsome and tyrannical bird, we can but repeat, that we have not found it to be so, and such is also the opinion of Dr. Buss, who observes: "Ein reizendes Vogelchen, welches ebensowol an Farbenpracht, als auch an Anmuth und Liebenswurdigkeit in der grossen Mannigfaltigkeit alter Stubenvogel uberhaupt einen hohen Rang einnimmt." (A charming little bird, which not only by its handsome plumage, but its grace and amiability occupies a high position among the diversified inmates of the bird-room.)

Mr. Wiener says the Turquoisine is "lively and interesting", but does not allude to its disposition, from which omission we may at least conclude that he did not find it hurtful to its companions.

Mr. Gedney says: "For my own part I candidly confess that Tur-quoisines hold the most prominent place in my estimation of the tribe to which they belong." In the concluding paragraph of the same chapter he remarks: "I ought to add that Turquoisines are extremely gentle in disposition, rarely resenting any interference on the part of weaker birds, and it is also worthy of note that they may be handled with perfect safety, as they very seldom bite, and when they do it is scarcely more severe than the nip from a Canary's beak."

On the other hand, a correspondent of the Bazaar wrote: "The Turquoisines seem very cross-grained, especially the hen, who scolds at any bird approaching her, and is never happy if there be another on the seed-tray at the same time as herself." But, as we have already more than once remarked, all the members of one species have not the same disposition; and even in the most amiable family one is apt to meet with a cantankarous individual now and then.

We cannot bring ourselves to believe, however, that the process of " manufacturing" hen out of cock Turquoisines has ever been had recourse to in this country, and that for the best of all reasons, it would not "pay", because it would be sure to be found out: however, the following is the modus operandi as related by a recent writer on Parrots and Parrakeets: - "The process consists in pulling out the red patch upon the wings, and destroying the blue face markings by means of caustic, which changes the mask to a dingy brown, leaving only the blue band upon the forehead. The neck feathers receive a few touches from the same magic wand, and the result is a very fair imitation of a hen," - which, we may add, would in a couple of weeks' time be proved to be an impostor by the growth of the red shoulder spot: no, the fraud would not "pay", and we think amateurs need have no fear of being imposed upon by such a paltry swindle.

The young are greyish green, and without any of the distinctive markings found in the adult birds; they soon moult, however, and in three or four months from the time of leaving the nest, are not to be distinguished from their parents, with whom they continue to remain closely associated until instinct, the following spring, impels them to set up housekeeping on their own account, when, as we have already observed, it will be well to provide them with other mates than their own brothers and sisters; for consanguineous marriages are to be deprecated among birds as much as among the "lords of Creation."

Except during the breeding season these pretty birds are, however, apt to be listless and uninteresting; but as soon as the advent of spring has "turned their thoughts to love", they become exceedingly lively and amusing.

In April, or May, they usually begin to evince a desire to make their nest, and should then be provided with suitable hollow logs, or small boxes in the bottom of which is cemented half of a cocoa-nut husk, the natural concavity and softness of which afford a very comfortable nesting-place. The attention and tenderness displayed at this season towards his mate by the male is touching in the extreme, for he is the most exemplary of husbands, and his love-song is flute-like, and not by any means unpleasing, as obtains in some members of the family.

Of course, if it be desired to achieve complete success with these birds, they should be given a good-sized garden aviary to themselves, where they will rear brood after brood with praiseworthy assiduity; and it is better not to remove the young ones until the close of the breeding-season, as they do not interfere with their parents, and their presence decidedly imparts confidence to the latter, and encourages them to further efforts in the direction of perpetuating the species: at the same time they will breed in a mixed aviary, and even, it is asserted, in a cage; but upon the latter point we are without personal experience.

On the whole this bird can be strongly recommended to amateurs, and it is to be regretted that it is so seldom to be obtained, and then only at a figure that places its possession beyond the reach of connoisseurs who do not chance to be possessed of a plethoric purse.

Hybrids have been produced between this and several kindred species, but are without anything to recommend them to the notice of aviarists, as they are, of course, sterile, and present in appearance a somewhat confused jumble of the colours and shape of their ill-assorted parents: we have no liking for hybrids of any kind, for we are of opinion that we cannot improve upon the works of Nature, or rather Nature's God, who has, indeed, made all things well.

There is no doubt that birds of all kinds are happier in a large well-furnished aviary than in a cage, however spacious the latter may be; and if the former be placed out of doors, in such a position that it can receive the first rays of the morning sun, so much the better for the health and comfort of the inmates: if the ground of the open portion be well turfed it is even possible in many instances to keep trees and shrubs alive, and if this can be done it adds very considerably to the attractiveness of the coup d'oeil; but unhappily, as a rule, Parrots and Parrakeets have such an inveterate propensity for "whittling", that it is almost impossible to get a plant of any kind to grow in any enclosure where they are kept.

Still this can be done, as the following extract from a letter of one of our correspondents fully shows: - "My conservatory is large, and kept at, at least, temperate heat. The plants are Palms, Dracaenas, Tree-Ferns, etc.; I have not found the plants injured except by Weavers, which I have discarded, and, strange to say, Turquoisines. My Budgerigars have done no harm whatever, but the Turquoisines compelled me to get rid of them (very reluctantly), from their nibbling the young leaves of an Euphorbia for which I gave twenty-five guineas, and from its being clear that they would practically spoil it, if I left them in the house."

From the above it is apparent that trees and some birds are not incompatible, although our experience with Undulated Parrakeets is the reverse of that of our correspondent, we have always found them most destructive to trees and shrubs, and this also is the record of M. Leon Mary, from whose charming little book, La Perruche Ondulee, we shall have occasion to quote further on.

In his interesting work on the Psittacidoe, Mr. Gedney doubts whether such a bird as "The Blue-banded Grass Parrakeet" has any existence in fact, although described as a distinct species by several writers; we believe that it is neither more nor less than a Turquoisine in its brightest summer attire: but these vexed questions can only, as we have already remarked, be set at rest by careful observation of the birds under consideration from their cradle to their grave; and, lest confinement in a restricted area should mar the symmetry of their form, and the brilliance of their colouring, the aviary in which they are kept should be of the largest possible dimensions, well provided with trees and shrubs, which for convenience of replacing them when marred by the birds, should be planted in large pots; it should be well grassed too, and be provided, where practicable, with a constant supply of running water.

Birds so situated, would, by their beauty and vivacity, quite surprise a spectator who had only been accustomed to see them pent up in a cage, where, too often, they have barely room to turn themselves round, and always look untidy, miserable, and dejected.