BIRD NEWS 



AVIARY NOTES BY A NOVICE. 



(Member of the Avicultui'al Society 



of California.) 



(Continued.) 



When the Widow began to pine I 

 thought to cheer her drooping spirits 

 with companionship of some of her 

 own kind, so purchased another pair 

 of zebras. Mr. Zebra was inclined to 

 sympathize with the Widow and en- 

 quire into her trouble, until his wife 

 made such a scene he decided he 

 had better leave the consoling busi- 

 ness to some one else. Mrs. Zebra 

 would chase after him screaming 

 "Shame! shame! shame!" (or chee- 

 cliee-chee, which means the same 

 thing) and give him the most vicious 

 little pecks on the head. She knew 

 how to loop after him all right. The 

 poor little Widow used to look on 

 and wonder what it was all about, for 

 of course she was innocent of caus- 

 ing any domestic trouble. All the 

 same Mrs. Zebra was glad when she 

 died, for sometimes widows forget 

 their grief. 



I am inclined to believe this parti- 

 cular female wanted to run things 

 to suit herself, for she persuaded her 

 husband into helping her take pos- 

 session of a canary's home built on 

 the upper floor of a four-room flat. 

 Whenever the canary left the nest 

 Mrs. Zebra rushed in and sat on the 

 eggs while her meek little husband 

 stood guard outside. The canary 

 could drive him away, but Mrs. Ze- 

 bra was a fighter and could hold her 

 own. The canary would then call 

 in her mate and together they gen- 

 erally managed to oust the intru- 

 ders. When the eggs hatched and 

 the canary had to leave the nest fre- 

 quently for food, the Zebras were 

 right there to step in, and how they 

 did love those babies! Mrs. Zebra 

 tried to cuddle them all under her 

 tiny wings and would fairly stand on 

 her head trying to tuck them in nice- 

 ly. She even went so far as to try 



and remodel the nest to fit herself. 

 The young birds died in a week, 

 either loved to death or starved. 

 After that, the apartment was vacant 

 a long time until a pair of bachelor 

 linnets began making repairs with a 

 view to future occupancy should the 

 right lady come along. 



A pair of black-throat finches 

 made three different nests — always 

 taking apart the first to build the 

 second. They were cute little hooded 

 affairs with a small opening on one 

 side for an entraince. In the first 

 nest two tiny eggs were laid, but in 

 some way became broken. I think 

 the nests aroused the curiosity of 

 the other birds and they no doubt 

 interfered with results. 



The Javanese — two females and a 

 male — have built rough nests of 

 twigs, leaves, straw; in fact, any- 

 thing they could carry into the 

 boxes, and have laid several sets of 

 eggs, usually eight in number, 

 creamy white and larger than those 

 of a canary. As yet none of the 

 eggs have hatched, the birds being 

 so wild they leave their nests at the 

 least alai-m and remain away for 

 long periods. I have seen them 

 rush out in fear when some bird 

 sounded a peculiar warning cry, or 

 perhaps only two canaries were 

 fighting. I am not anxious to in- 

 crease their numbers, for while they 

 are not destructive or meddlesome, 

 they are so timid they create fear 

 among the other birds. 



T have many varieties of birds, of 

 various colors and combinations of 

 color, but all males with the excep- 

 tion of those I have mentioned 

 above. I only wish they all had 

 mates, for I derive much pleasure in 

 watching their courtships and dom- 

 estic affairs. They are a large, hap- 

 py family, and with the exception of 

 the parakeets have never seriously 

 interfered with one another. 



I have two tame bullfinches, Bob- 

 by and Peter, who are always on 



