why, for the ten years they lived in the zoo, they were kept apart, living in the bird room in separate cages. They were not tame, although Lena was stick- trained and Archie would step onto the hand. This meant that although you couldn’t pet or play with them they were easy to handle. They arrived in late March 2002. They were my first Amazons. Dave Hall (now deceased) from the Amazona Society freely gave me good advice for their care. With sharp winds blowing, the temperature felt too chilly to put them straight into the aviary so I placed them in a Kings Cage in my sitting room. They perched close together on the top of


32 BIRD SCENE


the cage and eight years later, they are almost never more than a metre apart. They were in good health and had a compete diet sheet, although Archie’s feet were badly damaged. I was told macaws had bitten off his toes. Within two weeks of coming here, Lena had laid an egg which smashed on the cage floor. With better weather, I took them outside. Lena has one wing damaged, perhaps slashed by a machete when she was captured in the Brazilian rainforest, so she’s flightless. She must remember being flighted though. In the first days outside in the large aviary, she made a few pathetic attempts to fly. Her mutilated wing


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