56 



BRKEDING BUDGERIGARS UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 



Sir, — Some weeks ago I noticed in Mr. Swaysland's shop 

 a pair of Budgerigars in a small parrakeet cage measuring 

 barely one foot square. One of the birds was sitting in the 

 corner of the cage upon some eggs. There was a cocoanut 

 shell suspended in the cage, which the birds had declined to 

 make use of as a nest. 



The other day I was in the shop again, and was surprised 

 and pleased to find that the Budgerigars had three healthy 

 young ones, fully fledged, and apparently about a fortnight 

 old. Mr. Swaysland told me that they had been reared entirely 

 on canary seed and grass. He gave the parents a fresh turf 

 daily, and they stripped it of every blade of grass. 



I remember that, some ten years ago, Mr. Swaysland reared 

 some (or at any rate one) young of the common variety of 

 Budgerigar in a precisely similar cage. 



Horatio R. Fii,i,mer. 



AFFECTION IN BIRDS. 



Sir, — It may interest your readers to see the following 

 short account of a very curious instance of affection displayed 

 by two hand-reared Larks. The}' alwa3'S slept on the window 

 curtain ledge, and never moved till the maid opened the blinds. 

 They would then at once fly down, and with little coaxing 

 sounds would come and sit on my shoulder. Then they would 

 fly out of the window and remain in the garden. If I went out 

 and called them they would come to me at once and always 

 had tea with me when it was served out of doors. They would 

 follow me anywhere like a dog. I had to go away, and 

 though I left word they should be called and spoken to by my 

 maids, after my return they came no more. Alas ! 



Then there were two Jackdaws belonging to my Grand- 

 father. They never left him, and obeyed his orders in a 

 wonderful way. When he died, one bird was found drowned 

 in a water trough the next day, and the other died a week 

 later. I always thought they were cases of suicide and a 

 broken heart. E. Warrkn Vernon. 



