Preface

Many people, of course, who keep pet parrots, cockatoos, etc., not only house them well but also treat them in a manner that leaves nothing to be desired—and the health and liveliness of the birds themselves bear eloquent testimony to the care bestowed upon them by their owners.

But what of the other less fortunate ones? What of the sad and sorry caged specimens one all too often sees—and how is it that they have come to look such pictures of dejection? I don't think one need look far for the answer— simply an innocent yet deadly mixture of thoughtlessness and ignorance on the part of their owners.

I purposely use the word innocent because I don't for one moment believe that, generally speaking, people are ever guilty of deliberate cruelty to their pets. Ignorance, however, can cause just as much suffering as cruelty, and it is as well to bear that fact in mind. Consequently, in addition to dealing with a large number of species, I have tried in this book to make as clear as possible the various Do's and Don'ts in the keeping of parrots, cockatoos and macaws.

In most cases the birds I have referred to as mine in this book are actually the joint property of my partner, Alec Brooksbank, and myself, as they form part of the breeding stock at the Keston Foreign Bird Farm which we founded together in 1927, and where my partner took most of the photographs that illustrate this book.

My particular province at Keston has always been the breeding and management of the extensive collection of parrots and parrot-like birds that are housed on our farm, so I naturally think of them as being in a very special sense mine. The majority of these are parakeets etc., which do not come within the scope of this book, but of those birds which do, we have at the time of writing:

PARROTS African Grey Senegal, Blue-crowned Hanging, Blue-fronted Amazon, Cuban Amazon, Festive Amazon, Levaillant's (or Double-fronted) Amazon, Primrose-cheeked Amazon, Red-throated Amazon, Yellow-fronted Amazon.

COCKATOOS Citron-crested, Leadbeater's, Lesser Sulphur-crested, Roseate.

MACAWS The Red and Yellow.

Most of these birds are in pairs, each pair having an aviary to themselves, and being given, of course, every facility for breeding.

Finally, it only remains for me to add that I shall feel more than compensated for the time and trouble inevitably entailed in writing any book if this one should be instrumental in bettering the lot of some of the caged parrots one sees, whose housing and treatment often leave so much to be desired.

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