Ruppells Parrot

P. rueppellii

Description: Sexual dimorphism is apparent in adult birds, the female being the most brightly coloured. The male is predominantly dusky brown with silver frosting on the crown and ear coverts and a slight green suffusion on the back. The rump and under tail coverts are tinged with blue. The shoulders, edge of the wing and under wing coverts are yellow and the thighs are yellow and orange. The beak is grey-black and the iris is orange-red or bright red. The female has the lower back, rump and upper tail coverts bright blue and the lower abdomen and vent dull blue. Length: 22 cm (9 in). Weight: about 115 g (4 oz).

Immature birds have the rump blue - of a brighter shade than the female, although possibly less extensive and less brilliant in immature males. The yellow may be confined to the under wing coverts or there may be a few yellow feathers on the shoulders. The beak is grey.

Range/Habitat: This species comes from a comparatively small area, south-west Africa from southern Angola to South West Africa, and has no subspecies.

Aviculture: It is a most attractive little bird which has only been sporadically exported and not in large numbers. Little has been recorded about it in captivity and it has reared young on few occasions.

In Britain, Ruppells Parrot was bred in 1979 by Mr R. Gale of Essex. This species was bred at London Zoo in 1981 (Olney, pers. comm.). The pair was received in January 1973. In December 1980, the female laid three eggs; a chick was seen on January 9. Bread dipped in lorikeet mixture was then added to the diet of fruit and seed. The youngster left the nest on March 6. The female laid again late in the year but the eggs did not hatch; neither did the four eggs laid in December 1983. Four more eggs were laid in June 1984, three of which hatched. The young birds left the nest on August 27, September 1 and 5.

The breeding took place inside the Parrot House in an enclosure measur­ing 1.8m x 1.2m (6x4ft) x 2.3m (7½ ft) high. The nest-box used was 46 cm (18 in) high and 25 cm (10 in) square. The entrance hole was about 5 cm (2 in) in diameter.

When Ruppells Parrots were bred by Allan F. Manning (1982), the par­ents consumed greenfly and blackfly on leaves of a privet hedge in a corner of their aviary. The pair were obtained in 1979 and placed in an aviary measur­ing 3x1.5mx7m high. The first egg was laid on April 6. 1981. One of the four eggs was infert­ile; two had hatched by May 6. As soon as the chicks hatched, the parents started to consume the livefood. Meal­worms were also offered; the ration was reduced to 60 g (2 oz) per week after the chicks were ten days old.

When the nest-box was inspected, a chick could be removed without the parents attempting to attack as long as it remained within the parents' sight. Once, when the chick was hidden from the male's view, he `went into a kind of panic display that was very distressing to watch'.

On July 6, the parents started to pluck the chicks' ear coverts in an attempt to get them out of the box'. They left the nest on the following day but returned at night. At this stage, mealworms were refused by both the young and the adults. The youngsters were observed feeding themselves on July 15 and were removed four days later. Mr Manning described Ruppell's Parrots as ' wonderful birds to keep as they are quiet, intelligent, steady, placid '.

In the USA, Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida, reported breeding this species on several occasions from 1965, also hybrids between a male Meyer s and a female Ruppell's.