14 So)}ic /'"uiclics I have kcf^t. 



catchins4" my own birds, before I was attracted to foreii^ners — 

 "twas a book of the late Dr. (ireene's that enslaved me — so 1 

 had some little knowledge of bird-keeping, and 1 supplied soft- 

 food, canary, white millet, millet sjjrays, dried ants' eggs, and 

 greenfood for their delectation; on this they throve and reared 

 their young. 



Quick as the Zebra Finches were, the Cutthroats beat 

 them by nearly a week, but that is another story. 



1 have kept many pairs of Zebra Finches since then, and 

 numbers of young have been reared and sold, but for the last 

 two years I have had two pairs in cjuite large aviaries — shelter 

 double the size of my first bird-room, and a flight with a floor 

 <nrca of about one thousand superficial feet, yet the sole result 

 has been one young bird, and of the two pairs but a single cock 

 remains, and I cannot understand the reason why! Thougli 

 the weather has often l)een dull, sunless, cold and wet, it has 

 not been really severe, and Zebras have, without difficulty 

 l-assed through really arctic periods successfully with me many 

 times in the past, and cold, wet summers too, and yet done well. 



As aviculturists I think we should seek out the why and 

 wherefore of such problems as these. 



In this series I do not propose to follow any definite 

 ])eriod of my birdy experience, nor yet any regular sequence 

 of either of the Families Floccidac or I'riiii^iUidac, but merely 

 to wander as fancy leads. 



Olive Fin'ch {Plionipara Icpida): This species is now 

 mostly offered as the Cuban Olive Finch. l)ut 1 i)refer its shorter 

 and original name. It was about igio when I first possessed a 

 pair of this lovely species, but it was not till 1913 that I first suc- 

 ceeded in breeding the species, though several unsuccessful 

 attempts were made prior to the successful one. How strange 

 and unaccountable a bird's mind (or instinct) often appears to 

 us humans, and in no particular is it more strange than in the 

 choice of a nesting-site — often it appears as if they argued that 

 seclusion is best found in the comparatively open than in the 

 copse or thicket — this was markedly so with this pair of (^live 

 Finches; the first attempt was in a nest bo.x hanging 12ft. high 

 in the flight, but unscreened; their next attempt was in a similar 

 box, also high up, but screened by a hazel bush: \et a tliird 



