Blur-breast x Crhn.son- cared ^Va.l■}>/I/ Ili/brids. 2")! 



privet liiisli tiid on tli.- 15th, it contained four or five eggs, 

 and one ol' (he Hlue-l>rea>;ts wa.s .sitting. It never entered 

 my mind, until later, that this bird was the Blue-breast who 

 had mated off with the hen Coi'don Bleu. On July oth, I found 

 that- three eggs had lialehrd out, tlie young birds b(>ing aljout 

 half-fledged. About this time I added to the aviary a cock 

 Cordon Bleu, who was the means of my discovering the 

 Mii.xcd parentage of the young birds. 



liiiniediately he had got over thesurpri-e of auain seeing 

 sunshine, trees, and grass, he made up to the female Cordon 

 Bleu, who treated him with absolute contempt, whilst her Blue- 

 I)reasted mate knocked his would-l>e rival off his perch, and 

 chased him round the aviary. 



I then noticed that the Cordon Bleu hen's tail was bent 

 to one side — as occurs with all long -tailed birds of this genus, 

 after sitting for a few days. I watched carefully, and soon 

 found that she was feeding the three chicks already mentioned. 

 Even so she might possibly have been feeding the young of 

 a true pair of Blue -breasted Waxbills, but on July 11th, the 

 day before the three hylirids flew, I found in another bush a 

 similar nest containing eggs, and being incubated by the other 

 cock and hen Blue -breasts, their eggs were fertile, and I believe 

 have now hatched. The nest is rather high and I cannot ex- 

 amine it again without causing a good deal of disturbance. 

 The your"- hybrids closely resemble Blue-breasted Waxbiils 

 \\-hich I have bred before — they are however perhaps a trifle 

 paler in colour. 



Gordon Bleus have the iris of a reddish-brown colour, 

 and the beak has a distinct pink tinge; in Blue-breasted Wax- 

 bills the iris is dark brown and the bill is horn-coloured. The 

 latter species are, moreover, half an inch longer, and of course 

 considerably brighter in body colour. 



It will be interesting to note later which parent the 

 hybrids, favour, and more especially to find out whether they 

 are capable of reproduction. I am hoping to get another 

 brood this summer, which will increase my chance of securing 

 one or more breeding pairs for next year. 



I have marked the hybrids with numbered rings, and 

 shall turn them out in an aviary to themselves so as to avoid 

 all chance of confusion with either of their parent species. 



