The Budgerigar - Its Natural History, Breeding and Management

Karl Russ

Description

This antiquarian book contains a complete guide to the budgerigar, with information on its natural history, breeding, general management, and more. A timeless guide containing everything an existing or prospective budgerigar keeper might need to know, this volume is a must-have for those with a practical interest in the subject, and it would make for a great addition to collections of related literature. The chapters of this book include: “Description Parrots – Psittacidae”, “Capture and Importation”, “Breeding Developments”, “Buying”, “Cages and Their Construction”, “Birdrooms and Aviaries”, “Foods and Feeding”, “Keeping the Birds Healthy”, “As a Talker and Pet”, “Breeding”, “Breeding Difficulties”, etcetera. This vintage text is being republished now in an affordable, modern, high quality edition - complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on aviculture.

Sujets

• Birds
• Pets

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781446549216
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE BUDGERIGAR:
ITS NATURAL HISTORY, BREEDING
AND MANAGEMENT
by
D R . KARL RUSS
Seventh edition, revised and enlarged by
KARL NEUNZIG
Translated by
D R . M. BURGERS
With 31 drawings .

L ONDON :
CAGE BIRDS
L INK H OUSE , G REVILLE -S TREET , E.C. 1

PUBLISHER S NOTE
F OR over half a century the Budgerigar has been one of the most popular birds for cage and aviary, and the last few years have witnessed a remarkable expansion in the number and enthusiasm of its admirers. Apart from its beauty and engaging mannerisms, its adaptability, hardiness and free mating propensities have made it an ideal subject for breeding experiments. Since the creation of several attractive colour varieties there has sprung up for rare specimens-especially following their introduction into Japan-a demand unparalleled in the history of any other cage bird.
The greatly increased interest thus aroused has led to a general desire among Budgerigar enthusiasts for a manual dealing adequately with its breeding and management. This desire, it is confidently hoped, will be met by the present English translation of the comprehensive work of Russ and Neunzig which, in its own country, has already reached its seventh edition.
PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION
T HE breeding and keeping of Budgerigars woke up to a new life soon after the end of the Great War. Breeding has been carried out more intensely, more systematically and more successfully than before. New experiences have been collected and fully utilised in publishing the present edition of this book. The appearance of varieties of the little Australian parrot in many different colours stimulated anew its keeping and breeding and many a breeder of Budgerigars turned eagerly and successfully towards this new way of breeding which promised unexpected results.
The much enlarged part of the book describing the differently-coloured varieties of the Budgerigar is intended to direct the breeding of these into the proper channels.
A large part is devoted to the Budgerigar as a talker, and, in that connection, the artificial rearing of the versatile bird in accordance with recent experiences.
K ARL N EUNZIG .
CONTENTS
P UBLISHER S N OTE
P REFACE TO THE S EVENTH E DITION
I .
D ESCRIPTION
II .
C APTURE AND I MPORTATION
III .
B REEDING D EVELOPMENTS
IV .
B UYING
V .
C AGES AND THEIR C ONSTRUCTION
VI .
B IRDROOMS AND A VIARIES
VII .
F OODS AND F EEDING
VIII .
K EEPING THE B IRDS H EALTHY
IX .
A S A T ALKER AND P ET
X .
B REEDING
XI .
B REEDING D IFFICULTIES
XII .
I N -B REEDING AND I TS R ESULTS
XIII .
C OLOUR V ARIETIES
XIV .
A ILMENTS AND THEIR T REATMENT
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
C OLOURED P LATES
G REEN AND Y ELLOW B UDGERIGARS
D ARK B UDGERIGAR , S KY -B LUE B UDGERIGAR , L IGHT O LIVE G REEN B UDGERIGAR
D RAWINGS IN THE T EXT
1 - 2 .
T RAVELLING C AGES
3 - 6 .
T YPES OF C AGES
7 - 8 .
A RRANGEMENT OF D RAWER
9 .
E NDS OF P ERCHES
10 - 12 .
C ATCHING C AGES
13 .
C HOPPING H ARD-BOILED E GG
14 - 16 .
F OOD V ESSELS
17 .
A UTOMATIC F OOD H OPPER
18 .
D EEP F OOD V ESSEL
19 .
H OPPER FOR S MALL C AGES
20 - 21 .
A UTOMATIC D RINKING V ESSELS
22 .
B ATHING C ABIN
23 - 24 .
B IRDROOM F OUNTAIN AND H EATER
25 - 30 .
T YPES OF N EST -B OXES
31 .
S TEAM -B ATH
CHAPTER I
D ESCRIPTION P ARROTS - Psittacidae
Bill strongly built, upper jaw bent in a hook with cere at the base; two toes pointing forward, two backward; legs remarkably short and broad, covered with small horny scales; the third toe is the longest and so is its claw; the tongue is thick and fleshy.-R EICHENOW .
T HE Parrot family is found in hot regions, apart from a few species which inhabit temperate climates. Various kinds of country are chosen by parrots for their home. Some of them inhabit woods exclusively, others like scenery varying between grassy plains and woodland. Others are exclusively birds of the plain. Most of them have a hoarse and screaming voice. The food consists of tree-fruits, seeds, in several cases, flower-nectar bulbs, and a few of them also devour insects. For nesting they use holes in trees and rocks, also holes in the ground. One species builds in the open. The eggs are clear white and more or less round in shape. The sexes in some cases are the same colour; in other cases, of different colours. The plumage of the young is different from that of the adult birds.
Genus Melopsittacus .
The bill is rounded off, upper part with a thin, prolonged and projecting tip, in which are two narrow indentations; the nostrils are situated on a broad padded cere and are small and round. The base of the beak and sockets of the eye are feathered. The wings are long and pointed with large flight feathers, rounded off at the end, the second being the longest. The tail is long, wedge-shaped and graduated, both central feathers being very prominent. The tongue is short, fleshy and broad in front. The plumage is soft and the colour remarkable for the undulating markings. The sexes differ little, yet quite perceptibly from each other, though the young are noticeably different.
The Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus, Shaw) .
Variously known as the Undulated Grass-Parrakeet, Budgerigar, Zebra-Parrakeet, Zebra-Grass-Parrakeet, Shell-Parrot, Scallop-Parrot, Warbling-Grass-Parrakeet, Undulated Parrot, Canary-Parrot, and Betcherrygah ( Good Bird ) in the Liverpool plain and around Bigang in West Australia.
German: Wellenstreifiger Sittich, Wellenstreifiger Singsittich, Kanarien-Muschelsittich, Gesellschaftsvogel, Pepitapapagei, Undulatus, Andulatus, Augulatus, Andalusier .
French: Perruche ondule .
The Budgerigar is one of the smallest parrots, being about the size of the sparrow, with long, pointed wings and tail, pleasing green and yellow plumage, on the upper surface partly dark and undulated, with beautiful blue spots at the under side of the neck.
Description of the adult male .-Forehead, top, straw-coloured; on the occiput, upper part of the neck, fore-back and fore-shoulders, the feathers are characterised by regular black transverse undulations on a vividly greenish yellow ground. On the head, the dark transverse stripes are finer; at the back the dark stripes as well as the yellow stripes of the ground colour become broader. The lower part of the back, the rump, and upper part of the tail-coverts, are beautifully green. The parts around the cheeks and ears like the occiput show, in the upper part, very fine transverse undulations on a yellow ground. Several longer feathers, of a deep blue colour, descend from the cheeks and stand out sharply against the bright yellow throat where the plumage is lengthened into a beard; on both sides, two of these long feathers each show a roundish black spot at the point. The upper part of the throat is a fine yellow, remainder of under-surface a beautiful grass-green, tending to become yellowish; the small and medium wing coverts, a vividly greenish yellow with dark transverse stripes following the form of the feather in the shape of a half-circle, as on the fore-shoulder feathers. The last big feathers of the wing-coverts, the last secondaries, and the hind-shoulder feathers, are brownish black with a broad yellow border and similar narrower borders at both sides; the first big wing-coverts are a dim green with yellow borders like the others, with a blackish streak between the yellow border and the green colour. The remaining secondaries are, on the lace-half of the outer vane, a nice dark green with a yellow border, on the lace-half of the inner vane, blackish; the ground-half of the outer vane, a bright yellowish green, on the inner vane whitish yellow, which colour is continued as a narrow border till it reaches the tip. The light colour of the ground-half of the outer vane joins the broad yellow lace-edges of the large-coverts, forming a band which becomes broader. Primaries at the outer vane show a dark grey with a narrow yellow border except the first; interior vane, blackish from the second, with broad wedge-shaped yellowish spots in the centre, which produce on the under-surface a light transverse band, narrow in front, becoming broader at the back. The outer vanes from the fifth to the last show likewise a yellow-green spot, forming a band broadening backwards; lesser-coverts blue-green with dim whitish borders; anal feathers blue-green with broad yellowish borders; edge of the feathers a greenish yellow; under-surface of the feathers, a lighter green, the light designs are clearly noticeable; under wing-coverts yellowish-green, partly white at the base with lighter green lace half and broad yellow lace border; the two longer central tail feathers are dark blue at the base with a green-blue border; on the under-surface soot-coloured. The remaining tail feathers are a greener-blue with broad lemon-coloured central spot over both vanes and a broad black border at the base of the interior vane, shading off to yellow, so that the tail on the outer as well as the inner side shows two broad slanting blackish-green bands and a brimstone-coloured one, the latter going at an acute angle from the edge to the centre. Under the small feathers there is a coating of down, clear white on the whole under-surface, light blue at the upper-surface, ash-grey at the head and back; iris, pearl-white or pale yellow surrounded by a broad bluish edge, bill greenish, horn-grey at the base, slightly dark with a vividly dark-blue somewhat glossy cere; feet distinctly bluish, horn-coloured, sole white-grey, nails blackish (compare page 23 et seq ).
Adult female .-Like the cock but more or less darkly undulated forehead, the blue spots on the cheek and the black ones on the beard, however, markedly smaller; cere of the bill from greenish-yellow to brownish-grey.
Nestling plumage .-On the back a whitish-grey fine down; forehead likewise, upper head and breast-sides whe