50 ^y Aviary ntid Gouldiau Finches. 



when clearint^' out iifst boxes in the autumn, several f\!4t;s were 

 found. I 



The pair of birds remained in the out-door aviary until 

 the middle of January, roostini4- i'l the shelter which is un- 

 heated. Finally, after a night when we registered i 8 degrees 

 of frost, I caught and caged them, thoug^h I cannot say that 

 they seemed to suffer from the cold. 



I do not possess a bird-room, and those birds which 

 cannot stay out have to live in my smoke-room. It is a 

 cheerful room with windows facing S.E., and S.W., and is the 

 only moderately warm room in a very cold house. Here the 

 Gouldians occupy an all- wire cage jOin.. x i 5in. x 2 Sin high. 

 It is furnished near the top with a small twiggy branch at 

 one end and a thickish perch at the other. Between these the 

 birds have space to fly, A pot containing white millet and 

 Canary seed, and an earthenware saucer of water are on the 

 floor of the cage, and a spray of millet is hung from the top. 



By-the-bye, they are most pleasant birds in a a room, very 

 lively and cheerful, the cocks constantly singing their ridicu- 

 lous little song and they never scatter their seed. Long- 

 tailed Grassfinches I find unpleasant as cage birds. In a 

 room they are dirty and untidy and they never get tame like 

 Gouldian Finches. While in the cage the Gouldians moulted 

 and when turned out in May, 1914. they were in perfect plum- 

 age and condition. They soon uent to nest in a small box 

 hung on a roof beam in the shelter, and the first brood of 

 five flew in July. After the young birds left the nest the cock 

 took entire charge of them. The hen soon began to lay 

 again and in late August a second brood of six left the nest 

 to be followed, quite late in October, by the last batch, this 

 time of two birds. 



As the weather was wet and cold and as I had found 

 that, on leaving the nest, the young ones lived entirely in the 

 open flight, I thought it best to bring parents and young 

 indoors. 



The hen bird was soon caught, but the cock was so 

 swift on the wing that it was some time before I secured him. 

 Catching birds with a net always seems to me a brutal busi- 



