Correspondence. 235 



' next nest produced one Green and one Blue, but the latter died before 

 'leaving the nest. This was followed by another brood of three Green 

 ' hens ; so the end ot the season found me with the old pair, two old 

 ' cocks and three young hens. I paired them, the old hen killed one 

 ' of the young hens, and her mate pined away, evidently the old hen was 

 ' injured m the fight v/ith the young one, as she only laid two eggs, 

 ' one maliOrmed and the other clear, and she has not laid since. One 

 ' young hen mated with the cock (Blue and Yellow) produced two Blues 

 and one Grer^n. Just before this a rat got into the aviaries and was so 

 artfu' tha. 1 could not catch it, and although I had men, dogs, traps, 

 and poison it was three weeks before the end came, and before this 

 came about it had accounted for the two Blues and many others, m- 

 cluding a Rosella I'arrakeet. The next resulted in the rearing of 

 one Blue and one Green (both livingj, the Blue a fine hen; then fol- 

 lowed another nest of all Greens. The other young hen mated with the 

 old cock: laid and sat for a month before young hatched, and only 

 one Green was reared. I then paired her with a Green cock (Green 

 and Vcllow bred), result two youngsters, one strong the other weakly. 

 I have now seven pairs (do not want to part with any). With moderate 

 luck I ought to breed several Biues this year, bu: fjar I shall not be 

 able to give as much time to the birds as I should like. —A. Pulsford,. 

 February, 22nd, 19:6." 



In reply to yours I cannot give results at present — I haxe 

 three nests jus. hatched l)ut cannot tell what colour they will be.— A. 

 Pulsford, Aug. 22, 1910." 



I have no young Budgerigars bred from Blue and Green. 1 

 liave only two Blues left, and they are mated to Green, buj what 

 prospect of getting any young, I cannot say yet. — W. R. Fasey, 

 Match 27, 1916." 



I am glad to hear that you are trying to breed Blue Budgeri- 

 rigars. 1, myself, hav.? not been successful, aid as 1 am going back 

 to India in October, I have parted with all my birds and aviaries.. 

 The darkened birdroo.Ti, in w]i ch I was trying my experiment was too 

 dry. I have bred many (li).a-i;, I think I may say hundreds, of 

 Hudj^rigars, an 1 I have found thit dam[) is essential to successful 

 brcjji.-'.g. It i, ditifiiuli to get moi it air m a birdrooni, but 1 think 

 a guja pla 'C woul 1 b; a large shed, under trees in .1 damp place in a 

 garden ; on b.dg.it days darkened screens, or hlin-ls of red cloih' 

 migh' wi:h advantage be placed over the windows. For many years, 

 in India, I noticed that eggs laid in hot weather, by many different 

 species of birds, before the rains burst wore very small and rarely 

 fertile. After the burst of the • rains, the s inie pairs laid eggs four 

 times as heavy as those laid in the hot dry weather, and nearly all 

 were fertile. My Budgerigars did best during rainy si;i g. a:-.d a.itnmr.s, 

 and tho.ie in their tliird and fourth year were the most productive. 

 Both the Blue and the White Budgerigars are bound to come in the 

 nciir future u>t as surely as the White canary has come, and I 



