My Aviary aijd Gould ian Finches. 57 



ness; in this case it proved to be a fatal one. Next morning 

 the bird was jdead from what proved to be haemorrhage of the 

 brain. The 'good little hen sticcessfully reared the two young 

 ones in the cage, bringing her score for the year up to 

 thirteen. ' ! ' 



About equal numbers of the young proved to be red- 

 and black-headed birds. 



During the winter I was able to buy a Black-heade'd 

 cock from one of our members. 



Last spring the birds were put out on the '5th May. 



They must have gone to nest at once, as on the 14th I 

 found four eggs in the old nest-box. 



The first brood flew on June 24th (six of them), fol- 

 lowed by five imore on August i 5th, and another six flew on 

 ^)clober 14th. 



I caught and caged all the family as soon as the 

 chicks began to leave the nest. This time without murdering 

 the father. The parents commenced to feed the young ones a 

 few minutes after they were in the cage and all were reared. 



I fancy that the reason why my Ciouldians have nested 

 in spring, and not waited until late summer or autumn, is that 

 the change of temperature and surroundings from an out-door 

 aviary to a- sitting-room, throws them into moult. They 

 complete their moult during the winter and by May they are 

 in breeding condition. 



I believe that hard water causes the death of many of 

 thcst' i)irds. Here our only water supply is 'rai'n water. Where 

 clean rain water cannot l)c obtained it would be adxisablo 

 to boil llie drinking water. 



When feeding young, Gouldian Finches consume large 

 (|uantiti('s of seeding grass, and, I find that perennial rye grass 

 is tlieir favourite kind, next to that they like couch grass, 

 Canary seed, white millet and spray millet should always be 

 supplied with cuttle bone and crushed C'^\^ shells. 



