49 



" as I had always taken this bird for the cock, being much the finer and larger bird, I 

 '• could not imagine what was the matter with it. Great indeed was my surprise, when I 

 " went to switch on the electric light, on Friday night (April 3rd) for them to have their 

 " supper, to find a nice white egg lying on the floor of their cage unbroken. I have since 

 " fitted up in their cage a small barrel, similar to what I use for Cockateels, and made it 

 " as near nature as possible by covering it with bark, and to my great delight I find she 

 " has been exploring it, and I should imagine by her restlessness she is about to lay 

 " again. I only hope she will take to the barrel and sit, which perhaps t can hardly 

 " expect in a cage only 3 feet by 2 feet. However as there is the probability of their event- 

 " ually breeding I have prepared a nice aviary out of doors for them to occupy as soon as 

 " the weather permits me to put them out." 



A most interesting occurrence, and points to the fact that in this 

 species, the female is the larger and brighter bird, providing of course the 

 ages of Mr. Millsum's pair are about equal. Successful breeding in the 

 cage is improbable, though certainly not impossible. However there is a 

 very strong probability that they will successfully breed in the outdoor 

 aviary, and I would suggest, that when they are turned out, that the barrel 

 they have become accustomed to also form part of the furnishing of their 

 aviary. So far I do not think this species has been bred in the United 

 Kingdom. 



Chingoi.o Song-Sparrow {Zonoslricha pileata). A plainly but 

 prettily clad species; it has a sweet but slightly monotonous little song. 

 To call this bird plain scarcely does it justice, for the male, and for 

 the matter of that the female also, is certainly a pretty bird, with their 

 sharply defined greys, browns and blacks. The head, nape, and cheeks are 

 ashen, with bold, longitudinal black stripes, sides and back of neck, reddish- 

 brown ; back and wings ruddy-brown, with sharply defined black shaft lines 

 to most of the feathers, lower back and tail, ashy-brown, tail feathers with 

 paler borders ; under parts greyish-white, washed with brown on the breast^ 

 abdomen and flanks; beak, brownish ; legs and feet, pale brown. 



The female is slightly smaller than the male, and her plumage is not 

 of quite so rich a hue, but with the variableness common to all species, 

 the sexes apart from song are not easy r to discern. 



Air. W. E. Teschemaker has succeeded in breeding this species and 

 records the following among details in the Avicultural Magazine. His 

 birds had an enclosure to themselves, 

 "towards the middle of July I noticed the hen sitting after incubation had pro- 

 ceeded about a mouth I examined the nest carefully and, to my very great astonish- 

 " meut, found that it contained lour eggs and two young birds only a few days of age 

 " I can only explain this by assuming that the hen laid three eggs, then sat a fortnight, 

 "then laid three more eggs and sat another fortnight— an event which has never occurred 

 "before in iny aviaries. The young birds had some whitish down on their heads and 

 "backs. They grew and feathered very rapidly, the hen doing nearly all the feeding, 

 "and taking nothing to the young but live insect food " 



The young were successfully reared to maturity and still live. This 

 is the first occasion on which young of this species had been reared in this 

 country. Mixed seed, soft food, and a few live insects are about all these 



