14 Hybrid Breeding. 



usually found in our aviaries, has. on the other hand, gener- 

 ally been arranged by the' birds themselves, and the resultant 

 hybrids have becri *moro or less of a surprise to the owners 

 of the aviaries in which they have occurred. Personally, T 

 very much prefer to try and breed pure-bred birds (species), 

 but, as every aviculturist knows where many birds are kept 

 together fatalities are of fairly frequent occurrence, with the 

 result that an unde-irable number of widows, and widowers, are 

 to be found amongst most mixed collections at the beginning 

 of the breeding season 



This year as I was unable to find them mates of 

 their own kind, I put np for hybrid breeding Mealy X Red 

 Rosellas, Red-faced X Madagascar Lovebirds, Necklace X 

 Senegal Doves, and House x Cape Sparrows. Of these the 

 Rosellas did not nest, possibly because the hen Rosella 

 had lost the greater part of her beak, and consequently de- 

 pended very largely for food upon what the cock gave her. 

 The lovebirds had eggs which proved to be infertile. The 

 doves were mor? succesjful, fuHy rearing four pairs of pretty 

 young ones. The sparrows also succeeded in rearing a young 

 one, after having failed two vear^ in succession. I cannot give 

 details of tl:c time of incubation, etc., as they had nested so 

 mari\ times without any result that I had given up examin- 

 ing their nests. When I first noticed the young hybrid, it 

 was strong on the wing, and able to fend for itself. In size 

 it wa~> nearly oqual to the mother, which it very closely 

 resembled, but the white patches on cheek and throat were 

 absent. This bird lived some weeks, when it was killed by 

 a cock Mealy Rosella. It proved on dissection to be a hen. 

 The old hen again went to nest, and in August I found a, 

 new-born young one on the floor of the aviary, but a care- 

 ful search failed to find any more in the coco-nut husks 

 used as nests, and a day or two afterwards the hen sparrow 

 was also picked up dead; the victim of another avian Hun. 



The cock sparrow now turned his attention to a second 

 hen, that was 'in the aviary, and duly persuaded her \o take 

 on household (duties, with the result that, in the middle of 

 October a second hybrid left the nest, This bird was quite 



