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liopped on to the edge of the nest, got the Canary hen 

 (a non-feeder) to lift herself up in expectation of being 

 fed herself, when he would pop his head in under her 

 and feed all the young in a twinkling! He would repeat 

 this operation as often as necessar}^ until the young 

 could do without it. I was fond of that Greenfinch ! 



Breeding, or trying to breed, h3'brids, is strangeh' 

 fascinating, beyond all comparison with Canary breeding, 

 to ni}- thinking, at all events. There is something so 

 utterly un-understandable about it that heightens one's 

 desire to breed what is the least easy to obtain. 



Tn my last contril)Ution you were told that I had a 

 Canary and a Bullfinch together — that the Canary was 

 the father of hybrids from Bullfinch hens in both 1900 and 

 1901 — that the hen had had good eggs from different 

 Goldfinches and Linnets this season and the season 

 previous — that then, when my paper was being written, 

 they were sitting. The birds agreed splendidly from the 

 first, and everything pointed very strongly toward the 

 eggs being fertile, yet after they had been sat upon the 

 full fortnight, I am bound to admit they were clear eggs! 

 Now where does the fault lie ? The cock, as stated, had 

 fertilized eggs two years running ; the hen had three 

 good eggs in every clutch she had previous!}' laid when 

 paired with different P'inches ; yet there was no sign of 

 a chick now! Strange, is it not.' But (and we shall 

 never have done with "buts")tlie hen had laid twenty 

 eggs this season before the Canar\' was introduced, and 

 that is reason enough for me to keep this pair for next 

 years operations. 



The Redpoll-Bullfinch cross was obtained this last 

 season at Kilmarnock ; at least, the breeder succeeded up 

 to the point when the eggs were ready to hatch, if they 

 did not actually hatch out. This should be a very 

 pretty and interesting hybrid, and I hope to try for it 

 myself another season. 



R. Browning. 



