g2 C.o) rcspundoicc . 



nink-r (1k' luiliuii ol' a particularly .y'oud !^oldliiK-li imilr. lasl season's young 

 niali',^ >ini^' heller lliaii llic adults. 



Tin's is the first season 1 have had a cock I'lulltinch ])ii>inj^' in the aviary 

 (.tiler tlian tlie call notes. 



.1//V(' : The walls ol' the enclosed aviary have larye hunches of hrackcn 

 hant^ini;- (jn them, together with nest hoxcs as winter quarters for the hirds. 

 and at this time of \ear 1 see little of them — We are, of course, continually 

 killing odd mice that we see in the place, but lately it seemed to me that the 

 mousey order was particularly strong, so it was decided to shake out the 

 bracken — eighty-three mice, okl and young, were bagged in the ])rocess 1 

 ^\'e thought tliat must be the end of them, but tlu' other day I saw a mouse 

 ]>ut its head out of the hole of a nest-bo.\ about loins. high by Oins. wide and 

 deep : we plugged up the hole and ])lunged the box into a water tank : the 

 ct)ntents drowned were : 34 young mice of all ages, 4 adult females, and _' 

 adult males. 1 nnist be excused for giving all this a])]),arently sim])le detail, 

 but I was ver\- interested, as I did not know that mice were gregarious to 

 that extent, and would be pleased by information. 



1 can hear you say, " What an awful waste of seed." and I assure \ ou 

 i think so too. 



H. CAR1^\\'.\LK1•:R. 



COMPILING .\ LIST Ol- I'ORLKLX L'.IKDS I'.KLD .\T LIDLRTY. 



SiK, — I should be \ery pleased to try and comjiile a list of foreign 

 species which have been bred at libertx' in this countrw if members would 

 kindly assist me by sending information as to species, localit}' and (jwner. 



I only want to include instances where both parents have been full- 

 winged, and the young have been rearetl to be indei)endent. 



Does one of our members i)ossess any record of the parrots, etc., bred 

 at liberty at Northrepps ? 



{The .Manpu's of) T.W'lSTt )fK. 

 Warl.)linglon House, llavant. April Q, igj2. 



IN-I'.RKLDINC; DV WILD .SPLCIKS. 



SiK, — \<.)V\ are ]>|-obal)ly correct in sa\ing that with man\- birds brother 

 and sister do not norm.ilK- m.ate bv preference. Tiiere is, however, one 

 genus where brother and sister always normally appear to mate. In manv 

 years' experience with (.'ranes of various .species, some being full-winged 

 at complete liberty, I have never known the two young of opposite sexes 

 fail to mate with each other on reaching maturity. Tt would appear that 

 fresh blood is only introduci'd into crane families in the n.itural state, as the 

 result of the death of a bird by accident, or the failure of an egg to hatch, 

 llavant. April 7. i9_'_>. (The Marquis of) TAVISTOCK. 



