Breeding of Ri{ficanda,% Painted Finches, etc. 22o 



great pleasure to jot down these notes on my birds, and 

 I hope they may be of interest, and possibly of some value 

 to those of our members who are taking up the fascinating pur- 

 suit of aviculture. 



July 15th. By way of bringing my notes on breeding 

 operations up to date, our worthy Editor permits me to add 

 these words by way of i)ost script to what I have already written. 

 First a word of warning about young Painted Finches. The 

 old birds feed Avell until they decide to set up housekeeping 

 again, When they cease to feed their young, — as a consequence 

 the smallest of my brood of four died apparently from neglect. 

 At any i'ate its crop was quite empty when I found the dead 

 body in the flight. It may be of interest to note, that the 

 Olive Finches are again at nest, and have, I believe young 

 birds. This is quick work, as the previous youngster only 

 left the nest on June 15th. The Painted Finches, whose young 

 flew on June 2Gth, are busily engaged in nest building. This 

 time they have taken up their quarters in the outside flight, and 

 are making a very large structure partly in a dwarf fir tree, 

 and the rest worked by means of a tunnel into the coarse 

 herbage which springs from the bank running round a pai't 

 of the flight. The Diamond Doves have two young and are 

 again engaged in incubation. Of the other birds previously 

 mentioned, the Cordon Bleus are sitting, and the Pileated 

 Finches have eggs. The Parrot Finch problem is no nearer 

 solution, and I now have four birds (two in each aviary), 

 but Jieither " pair " show any desire to go to nest. To success- 

 fully sex Parrot Finches presents a problem which I must 

 admit myself quite unable to solve. I liave to-day again 

 examined the TBlack-cheeks, and am relieved to find that both 

 lots of young are nearly fully feathered. 



I bring these further notes to a conclusion by mention- 

 ing lan insecticide. I have used (with excellent results in washing 

 out cages, and for the sides and floors of the houses. It is 

 called " Little's Phenyle," and is manufactured by Messrs. 

 Morris, Little, and Co., Doncaster. In addition to its being an 

 efficacious insecticide, it is also a good deodoriser, and disin- 

 fectant. I originally employed the preparation in our Pekin- 

 gese kennels, and found it so useful there, that I have tried it, 

 with the results stated, for my aviaries also, H,\V,M, 



