Ail rigfifa reserved. November, 1916. 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE 



JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



Nesting of the Black-tailed Hawfinch and Red- 

 shouldered Whydah. 



Bv \\\ Shore Baii.v. 



I wish I had been able to head these notes the Breed- 

 iin^ of the Black-tailed Hawfinch, etc., but I suppose one 

 nius: expect as many failures as successes in aviculture, and 

 after all 1 have been fairly lucky in other cases. This is the 

 second time my Hav,?fincbes have failed; the first time with our 

 member. Miss Smyth, who came nearer success than I did with 

 them, althouji^h tli;' birds have had; a better chance here, at any 

 rate as regards space, than they had with her. Miss vSmyth's 

 failure with them, was I believe, due to ihcir ^oing to nest 

 so late in the year, the parents entering into moult before the 

 young were fully reared. With me they built a nest early in 

 March, selecting as a site the very branch of laurel on which 

 my Chinese (greenfinches had last year built their nest, and 

 successfully reared young. The nest was about the same size 

 as a Blackbird's, ^nd was built of fibrous roots and small twigs. 

 For a long time I was uncertain whether it belonged lo the 

 Hawfinches or to a jjair of Dinca i'inches that I had noticed 

 carrying building material from time to time. At '.he end of 

 Mayi I feaw the hen hawfinch busily engaged pulling the fibre 

 from a coco-nut husk. With this she lined the nest fully six 

 weeks after it had been built. On the first of June the first 

 egg wa.s laid, followed on the succeeding days by two more. 

 These were decidedly small for the size of the bird and were 

 almost exact replicas of our Yellow-hamlners', being pale 

 purplish white, streaked, spotted and blotched with brown. 

 ( )n examining the nest thirteen days after the first egg was 

 laid. 1 l(jund (inr ncwK liat< lied young one, the other two eggs 



