16 testing Notes. 



birds of the lirst nest. It would be wise, I think, to remove 

 the young of gallinaceous birds as soon as they are able to 

 fend for themselves, I shall certainly do so next year if I 

 breed any Quails sufficiently early, and the season gives one 

 reasonable hopes of a second clutch. 



Of other Quails, a pair of Californians built a iiest 

 under a box wherein 24 eggs were laid in a month. Half of 

 these I sent to Mr. D. Setli Smith. They all proved infertile, 

 the remaining half 1 put under a bantam, which was not 

 sufficiently broody, and they also were therefore unproductive. 

 My Rain Quails spent the summer dashing about and trying 

 to break their necks against the wire ends of their runs. While 

 on the subject of Quails it is interesting to note, that whereas 

 growing grass is said to be necessary for their successful 

 nesting, my Painted Quails chose on each occasion the only 

 spot in their run which was not grass -covered, and the Cali- 

 fornians built their nest on a little patch of gravel, although 

 most of the aviary, was planted with grass a foot or more 

 high. 



A pair of Parrot Finches began nesting operations on 

 March 1st, but were disturbed on at least two occas- 

 ions by an unniated cock. On May 1st they were placed 

 in an outdoor aviary, where they brought off three broods. 

 The first, however, left the nest too early, and did not survive 

 long; the second and third broods, each time consisting of 

 three youngsters were quite vigorous and remained outdoors 

 until the middle of November. A pair of Painted Finches 

 built a nest in a canary cage and laid three eggs in early 

 June. Both birds sat steadily but some feathered ruffian took 

 a liking to their nesting materials', and caused tliem to forsake. 



A second nest was built in the ivy, and on July 2nd, they 

 were again sitting on three eggs. On July 11th the male 

 bird was found dead, and the female thereupon promptly forsook 

 the eggs, which all contained fully formed chicks. 



I obtained another cock shortly afterwards, but the lady 

 objected to him, possibly because he had a " hipped " wing. 

 (By the way, I should be much interested if Mr. Gray, 

 M.R.C.V.S. would tell us the anatomical significance of this 

 common injury). 



