The Caledonians or the Caledonian Confederacy were a Brittonic-speaking tribal confederacy in what is now Scotland during the Iron Age and Roman eras. The Greek form of the tribal name gave rise to the name Caledonia for their territory; the Caledonians were considered to be a group of Britons, but after the Roman conquest of the southern half of Britain, the northern inhabitants were distinguished as Picts, thought to be a related people who would have spoken a Brittonic language. The Caledonian Britons were thus enemies of the Roman Empire, the occupying force administering most of Great Britain as the Roman province of Britannia; the Caledonians, like many Celtic tribes in Britain, were hillfort builders and farmers who defeated and were defeated by the Romans on several occasions. The Romans never occupied Caledonia, though several attempts were made. Nearly all of the information available about the Caledonians is based on predominately Roman sources, which may suggest bias. Peter Salway assumes that the Caledonians would have been Pictish tribes speaking a language related to Common Brittonic, or a branch of it augmented by fugitive Brythonic resistance fighters fleeing from Britannia.

The Caledonian tribe, after which the historical Caledonian Confederacy is named, may have been joined in conflict with Rome by tribes in northern central Scotland by this time, such as the Vacomagi and Venicones recorded by Ptolemy. The Romans reached an accommodation with Brythonic tribes such as the Votadini as effective buffer states. According to German linguist Stefan Zimmer, Caledonia is derived from the tribal name Caledones, which he etymologises as "possessing hard feet"; the singular form of the ethnic name is attested as Caledo on a Romano-British inscription from Colchester. In AD 83 or 84, led by Calgacus, the Caledonians' defeat at the hands of Gnaeus Julius Agricola at Mons Graupius is recorded by Tacitus. Tacitus avoids using terms such as king to describe Calgacus and it is uncertain as to whether the Caledonians had single leaders or whether they were more disparate and that Calgacus was an elected war leader only. Tacitus records the physical characteristics of the Caledonians as long limbs.

In AD 180 they took part in an invasion of Britannia, breached Hadrian's Wall and were not brought under control for several years signing peace treaties with the governor Ulpius Marcellus. This suggests that they were capable of making formal agreements in unison despite having many different chieftains. However, Roman historians used the word "Caledonius" not only to refer to the Caledones themselves, but to any of the other tribes living north of Hadrian's Wall, it is uncertain whether these were limited to individual groups or wider unions of tribes. In 197 AD Dio Cassius records that the Caledonians aided in a further attack on the Roman frontier being led by the Maeatae and the Brigantes and inspired by the removal of garrisons on Hadrian's Wall by Clodius Albinus, he says. The governor who arrived to oversee the regaining of control over Britannia after Albinus' defeat, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from the Maeatae rather than fight them; the Caledonians are next mentioned in 209, when they are said to have surrendered to the emperor Septimius Severus after he led a military expedition north of Hadrian's Wall, in search of a glorious military victory.

Herodian and Dio wrote only in passing of the campaign but describe the Caledonians ceding territory to Rome as being the result. Cassius Dio records that the Caledonians inflicted 50,000 Roman casualties due to attrition and unconventional tactics such as guerrilla warfare. Dr. Colin Martin has suggested that the Severan campaigns did not seek a battle but instead sought to destroy the fertile agricultural land of eastern Scotland and thereby bring about genocide of the Caledonians through starvation. By 210 however, the Caledonians had re-formed their alliance with the Maeatae and joined their fresh offensive. A punitive expedition led by Severus' son, was sent out with the purpose of slaughtering everyone it encountered from any of the northern tribes. Severus meanwhile prepared for total conquest but was ill. Caracalla attempted to take over command but when his troops refused to recognise him as emperor, he made peace with the Caledonians and retreated south of Hadrian's Wall to press his claim for the imperial title.

Sheppard Frere suggests that Caracalla continued the campaign after his father's death rather than leaving, citing an apparent delay in his arrival in Rome and indirect numismatic and epigraphic factors that suggest he may instead have concluded the war but that Dio's hostility towards his subject led him to record the campaign as ending in a truce. Malcolm Todd however considers there to be no evidence to support this. Nonetheless the Caledonians pushed the Romans back to Hadrian's Wall. In any event, there is no further historical mention of the Caledonians for a century save for a c. AD 230 inscription from Colchester which records a dedication by a man calling himself the nephew of "Uepogenus, Caledonian"; this may be because Severus' campaigns were so successful that the Caledonians were wiped out, howeve

A lovebird is the common name of Agapornis, a small genus of parrot. Eight species are native to the African continent, with the grey-headed lovebird being native to Madagascar. Social and affectionate, the name comes from the parrots' strong, monogamous pair bonding and the long periods which paired birds spend sitting together. Lovebirds live in small flocks and eat fruit, vegetables and seeds. Black-winged lovebirds eat insects and figs, black-collared lovebirds have a special dietary requirement for native figs, making them problematic to keep in captivity; some species are kept as pets, several coloured mutations have been selectively bred in aviculture. The average lifespan is 20 to 30 years. Lovebirds are 13 to 17 cm in length, up to 24 cm in wingspan with 9 cm for a single wing and 40 to 60 g in weight, they are among the smallest parrots, characterised by a stocky build, a short blunt tail, a large, sharp beak. Wildtype lovebirds are green with a variety of colours on their upper body, depending on the species.

The Fischer's lovebird, black-cheeked lovebird, the masked lovebird have a prominent white ring around their eyes. Many colour mutant varieties have been produced by selective breeding of the species that are popular in aviculture; the lovebird genus comprises nine species of which five are monotypic and four are divided into subspecies. Eight of them are native in the mainland of Africa and the Madagascar lovebird is native to Madagascar. In the wild, the different species are separated geographically. Traditionally, lovebirds are divided into three groups: the sexually dimorphic species: Madagascar and red-headed lovebird the intermediate species: peach-faced lovebird the white-eye-ringed species: masked, Fischer's, Lilian's, black-cheeked lovebirdsHowever, this division is not supported by phylogenetic studies, as the species of the dimorphic group are not grouped together in a single clade. Species and subspecies: Rosy-faced lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis, —or peach-faced lovebird Agapornis roseicollis catumbella, B.

P. Hall, 1952 Agapornis roseicollis roseicollis, Yellow-collared lovebird, Agapornis personatus, Reichenow, 1887—or masked lovebird Fischer's lovebird, Agapornis fischeri, Reichenow, 1887 Lilian's lovebird, Agapornis lilianae, Shelley, 1894—or Nyasa lovebird Black-cheeked lovebird, Agapornis nigrigenis, W. L. Sclater, 1906 Grey-headed lovebird, Agapornis canus, —or Madagascar lovebird Agapornis canus ablectaneus, Bangs, 1918 Agapornis canus canus, Black-winged lovebird, Agapornis taranta, —or Abyssinian lovebird Red-headed lovebird, Agapornis pullarius, —or red-faced lovebird Agapornis pullarius pullarius, Agapornis pullarius ugandae, Neumann, 1908 Black-collared lovebird, Agapornis swindernianus, —or Swindern's lovebird Agapornis swindernianus emini, Neumann, 1908 Agapornis swindernianus swindernianus, Agapornis swindernianus zenkeri, Reichenow, 1895 Depending on the species of lovebird, the female will carry nesting material into the nest in various ways; the peach-faced lovebird tucks nesting material in the feathers of its rump, while the masked lovebird carries nesting material back in its beak.

Once the lovebirds start constructing their nest, mating will follow. During this time, the lovebirds will mate repeatedly. Eggs follow 3–5 days later; the female will spend hours inside her nesting box. Once the first egg is laid, a new egg will follow every other day until the clutch is complete at four to six eggs. Without a nest or a male, lovebirds sometimes produce eggs. Feral populations of Fischer's lovebirds and masked lovebirds live in cities of East Africa. There are interspecific hybrids; the hybrid has reddish-brown on head and has orange on upper chest, but otherwise resembles the masked lovebird. Feral lovebirds are present in warmer cities of the United States; these include Phoenix and Austin, Texas. Several species are found in feral populations in San Diego, California. In Victoria Australia around Melbourne a version locally called an African Lovebird has an aggressive breeding nature. In an aviary with smaller birds it is common to find other smaller species decapitated overnight.

The surviving partner succumbs within 3 weeks. There are two feral colonies present in the Pretoria region in South Africa, they originated from birds that escaped from aviaries. They consist of masked, black cheeked and hybrid birds and vary in colours. White and yellow as well as blue occur in many cases; the white ringed eyes are prominent. With their inclination to bond, lovebirds can form long-term relationships with people as well as other lovebirds. Aggression is aroused in lovebirds and they may bite unless humans establish a bond with gentle handling. Provided with adequate space, a stimulating environment, appropriate nutrition, lovebirds can become cherished companion parrots, they love to snuggle and will preen their favorite people. It is preferable to obtain birds bred in captivity, rather than birds caught in the wild. Wild birds may harbor diseases such as avian polyomavirus. Captured wild lovebirds may mourn the loss of association with a mate or a flock, their age is to be unknown, they may have an unsuitable personality for domestication.

Lovebirds are no longer imported from the wild in the United States. Birds socialised from a early age, while being brought up by parents, make good pets; the practice of hand-feeding young psittacines, i

Sir Charles Dixon Kimber, 3rd Baronet was one of the Kimber baronets. Charles Dixon Kimber was born at Godstone, Surrey, on 7 January 1912, his father was Henry Dixon Kimber. He was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, where he read history, he was at the debate at the Oxford Union in 1933 where the House resolved that it would not fight for King and Country. He was a conscientious objector during the Second World War during which he ran a market garden in Devon, he was secretary of the Labour Party in Totnes. Kimber first married Ursula Bird, the daughter of a member of parliament with whom he had three sons. In 1950, he married the couple had a son and a daughter; the couple divorced in the early 1960s. Kimber succeeded to the baronetcy in 1950, his father's son by his first marriage was killed in the First World War. Charles Dixon Kimber died on 10 April 2008, he was survived by two of his sons from his first marriage, by his daughter from his second marriage. His eldest son, Sir Timothy Roy Henry Kimber, succeeded to the baronetcy