2'28 Jones, Native Birds in Captivity. [ 



Emu 



«t Apri 



the late Mrs. Treweeke kept Rouen Ducks. These often mated 

 with the wild Duck and produced their hybrid offspring. Mrs. 

 Treweeke presented me with a setting of eggs, hut only one showed 

 the wild strain. 



In my yard (about half an acre) I had running about among 

 the fowls five Wood-Duck that I had hatched — -three Ducks and 

 two drakes — one Teal, two Black Duck, one WhistHng-Duck, 

 five Spur-wing Plover, one Scrub-Turkey, and one Crimson- 

 winged Parrot. It was funny to watch the Parrot dodging in 

 and out among the fowls, picking up grain. The Scrub-Turkey 

 was a nuisance ; I gave him away. Nothing deUghted him so 

 much as to come into the house, jump on the table, and scratch 

 everything off — crockery or glass, it was all one to him. The 

 Teal was a great pet. At meal time, directly she heard the bell 

 ring, she would mount the steps — five of them— into the house, 

 and waddle into the dining-room, where there was always a saucer 

 of bread and milk placed on the hearth for her. 



We left Goondiwindi and went to St. George. There I had a 

 good-sized wire-netting enclosure built under the shade of some 

 big Cape mulberry trees. In it I had two Bronze-wing Pigeons 

 and two Topknots, different sorts of Parrots, 'one Dollar-Bird, 

 two " Happy Family " (Babblers), and other birds, besides a 

 Magpie and Jackass running loose. I have heard people say that 

 Bronze-wing Pigeons cannot be tamed. I used to go into my 

 aviary, in which we put a big branch of sandal-wood tree every 

 fortnight, and the Pigeons would roost on my head. They would 

 gather sticks and try to make a nest, but the " Happy Family " 

 never allowed them to finish, for they would always pull the nest 

 to pieces just as it was nearing completion. The Topknot-Pigeons 

 were very gentle little fellows, but they never attempted to make 

 a nest. The Crimson-winged Parrot would perch on my shoulder 

 and gently tweak my ear, and, if he could reach it, my nose, but 

 he never hurt.' When we were leaving St. George I gave most 

 of my birds to a friend, but she wouldn't have the " Happy Family," 

 with the result that the Bronze-wings finished their nest in peace 

 and reared their young the next year ; since then I have not heard 

 how they got on. During the big mouse plague in St. George the 

 Jackass used to catch and eat as many mice as he could swallow ; 

 then he would sit all day long with the last one in his beak, the 

 tail hanging down. The Magpie would catch the tail in his own 

 beak and waltz round and round the protesting Jackass, crowing 

 with dehght. Poor Jackie was too full of mouse to do more than 

 utter angry, hoarse growls. The Dollar-Bird did not do well in 

 captivity. I finally let him go. Of course, I could not get him 

 the kind of food he required. 



Last nesting season I noticed a Blue Wren {Mahtrus cyaneus) 

 feeding the female while she was busy building her nest. Is this 

 usual?— A. MacCaskill, jun. Coleraine, Vic. 



