44 Aviary Notes and Episodes — 1912. 



wise they very soon begin to droop and die. Live ants' eggs 

 in themselves do not appear to be enough, but supplied in 

 coniunction with wasps' grubs, will keep the young birds 

 in th<! finest condition. This is rather surprising in view of 

 the fact that before the young loave the nest they appear' 

 to thrive quite well, if the old birds are supplied with a 

 good insectivorous mi :ture plus a few mealworms. 



The first brood had hardly left the nest, when the hen 

 commenced to repair the old nest, and was soon sitting, on 

 nnother clutch of four. 



Al! the eggs hatched out, but the chicks were killed 

 off almost at once, by the young of the first nest, which still 

 insisted on being fed by the old birds though quite capable 

 of fending for themselves and used to follow the hen ba^-k 

 to her nest, clamouring for food. In one of the scuffles 

 which always ensued, the newly hatched chicks were trampled 

 upon and killed. The old birds had two more nests after this, 

 and would no doubt have had still more had I not checke'd 

 their further activities in this direction by catching and' 

 ca.uiim them up. 



On each of these subsequent occasions the usual clutch 

 of four was laid, and not a single one of the sixteen e^^^ 

 laid proved infertile, though only seven birds were actually 

 fully reai'O !. 



The reason why so few of the young were fully reared 

 was owing chiefly to the lack of a continuous supply of insect 

 food and also no c'oubt to the wretched weather we experienced 

 practically without an interval all last summer; but I think 

 everyone will admit that the record of the birds was a re- 

 markable one. 



One rather curious part in connection with these birds 

 was that on every occasion a cock Zebra Finch helped to 

 feed the young, and could not have been more solicitous 

 for the welfare of the nestlings had they been his own. 

 The Cardinals at first resented the interference of this well- 

 meaning bird, and on more than one occasion nearly termina- 

 ted hi- life, but after a time they apparently came to the 

 conclusion that he was a well meaning lunatic and took no 

 further notice of him. It was most amusing to watch this 



