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Numbers of young Green Budgerigars have hatched 

 tliis year in my bird-room, but my last nest, containing 

 the extraordinary number of seven young, were all but 

 one killed by the hen bird. It cost me some careful 

 watching to find her out— I then had her caught and 

 killed without any delay. The cock bird fed the remain- 

 ing young one most carefully and it is now a strong bird. 



What satisfactor}' birds Grey Java Sparrows are in an 

 aviary .- They are always in perfect feather, and never 

 dull. I have five Javas flying with the rest of the birds, 

 and yet all is peace. They are full of mischief, and have 

 pecked a hole in the bird-room wall deep enough for 

 them to sit in. 1 am sorry to say that though a pair, ot 

 the five, had a nest this season with 3-onng, they starved 

 them to death ; the young birds were nearly ready to 

 fly, and in a few more days would have been able to 

 do for themselves. 



Nothing ever seems to happen to birds of the Grey 

 variety, but the White Javas (which are, I believe, a kind 

 of artificial production), always appear to be in some 

 kind of trouble : my last pair were drowned. I have 

 always understood that they, the White, were easy to 

 breed, but mine shewed no inclination to do so. 



Wonderful bad luck attends my endeavours to breed 

 Cockatiels : four hens have died one after the other, 

 leaving the cocks in robust health. My four hens all 

 came from diff"erent places, so I cannot account for the 

 mortalit}'. Two out of the four had eggs with young in 

 them, and were sitting, as I thought, steadily. 



I do not think any but a really patient person should 

 attempt bird breeding, British or foreign. It is the un- 

 expected that so often happens, the unexpected being 

 the loss, five times out of six, of a nest of birds to all 

 appearances so flourishing that success seems certain. 

 When I say " to all appearances," I do not mean that I 

 ever see my young birds in their nests : I jndge by the 

 coming and going of the parent bird.'^. It is only when I 

 sjel a conviction that something has gone wrong, that I 



