ii8 A Few Experiments. 



work on a near-by field of ripening corn. The old hen accom- 

 pc'inied by two youngsters were frequently about later, but 

 towards the end of the moult (July) all vanished completely, nor 

 hcire I seen anything of them since, though reports, that they 

 had been seen in various different parts of the district, continued 

 to come to hand for some little time. The cock remained about 

 the garden for some three weeks after the others had departed, 

 then suddenly one afternoon he also disappeared. 



The Orange Bishops stayed on well, though so far as I 

 am aware no serious attempt at rearing a family was made, this 

 being possibly due to the fact that the cock went out of colour 

 soon after being liberated. By the middle of September, 

 how^ever, all had vanished and so ended the second experiment. 



My next and last venture w^as with some Green Cardinals, 

 a pair of Barbary Doves, and a cock Barbary mated to a hen 

 Half-collared Dove. These birds w^ere liberated about the end 

 of March of this year. The pair of Barbarys w^ent to nest in a 

 few days' time, and this in spite of the atrocious weather 

 conditions obtaining at that time. An absurd apology for a 

 nest was made consisting of a few pine needles and small twigs, 

 v/hich were deposited at random on a low branch of a fir tree 

 in the small shrubbery surrounding the garden. I did not at all 

 like the situation chosen— about three feet off the ground and 

 easily accessible both to rats and cats. I did not disturb them. 

 however, fearing that if I did an even worse position w^ould in 

 nil probability be selected, and the present one at all events was 

 in a well sheltered spot. All w^ent well till the chicks had safely 

 hatched, and were about ten days old and feathering nicely 

 when on inspecting the nest T found that both the hen and young 

 had all vanished. The mixed pair also w^ent to nest about this 

 time in what appeared to me to be a fairly safe position, the 

 nest being fairly well made for a dove and some fifteen feet off 

 the ground. Eggs were duly deposited, and incubation pro- 

 ceeded smoothly for six days w^hen the hen was found to be 

 missing, and the eggs smashed beneath the tree. Meanwhile 

 the cock Barbary of the first pair had also disappeared, so I 

 caught up the sole survivor and returned it to an aviary where 

 i+ is now paired up to a second hen Half-collar, so far without 

 any result. The pair of Green Cardinals did not settle down to 

 business for some considerable time, but very charming they 



