195 



strength to recover. I am inclined to think that had he had 

 the soft food more liberally when first I received him, his 

 weakness would not have developed. 



A good home-made food can be prepared by mixing equal 

 parts of ants' cocoons, dried flies, 3'olk of egg * (flake), adding 

 to this twice its bulk of powdered biscuit (Osborne for 

 preference). This will keep for any length of time, and when 

 required for use, shoiild be moistened with cold boiled potato 

 (mashed) or grated carrot ; some aviculturists nse lard in 

 preference to either of these. 



But let us see what our masters in aviculture say : Dr. 

 Greene, in his ''Favourite Foreign Birds," says "It must be 

 " remembered that these birds are mainly insectivorous, and 

 " cannot live on a diet of seed alone, which they cannot digest 

 " in au}'^ quantity, and which, if persisted in, will cause 

 ** constipation and fits, from which so many Nonpareils die 

 " in captivity." Dr. Butler corroborates this, and adds: "Ants' 

 " cocoons as bought will answer the purpose " ; but as my bird 

 always had a trough full of cocoons within reach and yet 

 became ill, I can hardly agree with this. J. A. Swan, 



COCKATIELvS NOT BREEDING. 



Question. I have been trying to breed Cockatiels for some 

 j-ears, and this year managed to hatch three, but they were all 

 thrown out of the nest one at a time. I had two pairs in the 

 aviary— was this the cause .^ A. R. B. 



Answer. If one's experience with Budgerigars is any 

 good, I should be inclined to think that your years of 

 non-success and the final destruction of the young may 

 possibly be accounted for by the fact that you have three hens 

 and one cock instead of two pairs. With Budgerigars at any rate, 

 I find an excess of hens is fatal to success : the inquisitive visits 

 of the unpaired hens to the nests of their more fortunate 

 sisters doing a lot of harm. 



Another cause of young birds being thrown out of the 

 nest is a suddei: fright in the night, especially severe thunder- 

 storms. Only the other day one of my hen Budgerigars, who 

 has successfully reared numbers of young, threw out of her 

 nest, during the last severe thunderstorm, five healthy half- 

 grown youngsters. E. Hopkinson. 



* since the above was written I have had the privilege of reading- Dr. 

 Creswell's article, "The Story of Bird-Death," and should omit ^%% in any 

 shape or form.— J. A. S. 



