i6i 



SILVRRRITJ.S AND SII.VERRUX X RRNGAT.EE 

 HYBRIDS. 



Sir, — It may possibly interest some of the Me'iibers of the 

 F.B.C. to hear liow I liave fared with Silverbills, as I see in the 

 April issue, "Early Nesting Notes," that they are not free 

 breeders in captivity. 



I live on the Italian Riviera and have three small aviaries 

 in my garden ; the birds live ont all the year ronnd, with only 

 curtains to protect them from cold at night Three years ago 

 I bought a pair of vSilverbills, thev and their progeny have bred 

 continnously for two years, so much so, that last May, before 

 leaving for England. I destroyed 80 of their eggs, and on my 

 return last October I counted twenty-one (old and young) in 

 the cage. This vSpring they have not nested, probably they are 

 overcrowded, so 1 am thinning them out. 



I have also some interesting mules from a vSilverhill and a 

 fawn and white Bengalee, the nest that produced these birds 

 had a vSilverbill and a Bengalee sitting, three birds were hatched 

 out and these have the colouring of the Silverbill but more the 

 form of the Bengalee, whilst both the song and the courting 

 movements ;ire those of a Bengalee. M. M. Hubbard. 



[The reference in " Early Ne.sting- Notes" was to the Indian Silverbill, 

 wliich is not by any means freely imported ; it is quite possible some in- 

 stances of successful breeding may have been recorded, merely as Silverbills 

 breeding- as in the above ; where such has been the case it has been assumed 

 that it was the African species which was referred to, these being- very freely 

 imported and breeding- more or less intermittently in the aviaries of avicul- 

 turists all over the country. The hybrid Silverbill x Bengalee has been 

 reared by Mr. Fillmer I think, and exhibited by him at one of the Palace 

 Shows, and if I remember rightly its resemblance to its parentage was very 

 similar to Mrs. Hubbard's specimens.— Ed.]. 



PNEUMONIA AND SEPTICEMIA. 



Sir. — May I ask if you will kindly answer the following 

 querie.s, eitlier privately or through Bird Notes. 



To what extent does pneumonia and what is usually called 

 a chill affect septicaemia.? Do either of the first named (pneu- 

 monia and chill) occasion septicsemia of themselves.? What is 



