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Bramblefinch. Its owner declined to give nie further 

 particulars than that he bred it, and has not yet 

 acknowledged the return of the bird or the receipt of ni}^ 

 letter and opinion. So much for the Chaffinch cross— I 

 believe the genuine specimen has yet to be bred. I 

 should be glad to know whether it is a fact, as some 

 assert, that the union of the Chaffinch and its mate takes 

 place in the air. If any of my readers who have 

 more opportunity than I have for the study of wild bird 

 life, have ever noticed this. I should be glad to know. I 

 think if we could settle this point it would go a long way 

 towards deciding whether the Chaffinch cross may or 

 may not be expected. 



I am trying myself for several crosses this season. 

 Last years results were ;///, owing to no fault of my own, 

 but my experiences encouraged me to try again. I may 

 tell all those of our members who are thinking of trying 

 the cross with the Bullfinch, that the lesson I learnt, 

 both from my own birds and from those of my friends, 

 was that to allow the presence of more than one Bullfinch 

 hen in the same aviary, was fatal to all efforts on the part 

 of the finch when called on by the hen Bullfinch. 

 This has occurred in aviaries as large as from five to ten 

 feet square — whether the same would occur in a large 

 garden aviary I have not yet proved, but as far as it goes 

 it shows quite clearly that the liest results are obtained 

 when each pair of birds have a separate tenement to 

 themselves. A cross I should ver}' much like to see 

 again is that between Redpoll and Bullfinch — a very 

 beautiful and also a valuable cross, and but very rarely 

 seen. I should also like to see more notice taken of 

 other hybrids bred from the more common kinds of 

 finch, such as the Redpoll, Twite, and Greenfinch. For 

 those who have time to spate, there are yet many more 

 lovely crosses to l)e obtained, and I think if the same 

 amount of time and trouble were expended on the choice 

 of a hen for these latter crosses, I see no reason why 

 they should not take quite as proniinent a place iti the 

 cage-bird world as do the crosses fiom the Goldfinch. 



