150 A'oti's on the Soitih A/ricaii IVhitexc 



Notes on Breeding the South African White-eye. 



(Zosterops virens). 



By Capt. J. S. Reevk, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



A pair of the above species, purchased from Messrs. 

 (ianiai^e, were in my outdoor aviary the last two summers, but 

 made no attempt to nest whatever, 



This summer they were not put into the outdoor aviary 

 till July loth, and on the 22nd were sitting- on three white eggs 

 in a nest suspended in a holly bush ; male and female sat in turns. 



On August 3rd all three eggs were hatched out. but next 

 day one fledgling was dead, and 1 removed it. 



On the 8th I saw the hen feeding the other two on banana ; 

 they were then just fledging, and en the 14th they flew. 



On the the i6th I noticed both parents feeding them on 

 tlie soft food mixture, of which they continued to use a good 

 deal, but were also feeding on live insects caught in the aviary. 



By the 25th I noticed that one had white round the eye 

 complete, in the other this was just showing. 



September ist: I saw one feeding on banana, and the 

 other picking among the foliage. As the temperature had run 

 down to 4i"F. in the night, and both looked a bit puffy, I took 

 them all into my indoor aviary the next day. 



Both before and since this the parent birds Avould come 

 down for mealworms, of which I g'ave them about four morning 

 and evening, but the young now take these themselves without 

 much assistance. The youngsters are a fine pair of birds, and I 

 should be pleased to sell them and their parents. 



[About a week after receiving the above we received the body 

 of the male parent with a note stating that it had been picked up 

 dead in the aviary — from the body we were able to fix the species 

 as Z. virens — the sudden change of weather and resultant 

 pneumonia was the cause of death. — Ed.] 



Correspondence. 



DO BLUE-WINGED LOVEBIRDS LINE THEIR NESTS? 

 Sir, — I notice that in your reply to a correspondent in Cage Birds, you 

 i::iy that the Blue-winged " Lovebird " uses material to line its nest. I have 

 great hesitation in criticizing your statement, but are you sure that Psittacula 



