319 



The Califoniiaii Quails which have nested with me every 

 j'ear, have made no attempt to do so this year. The Nicobar 

 Pigeons, which were in my possession four or five years before 

 they nested, have laid several eggs l)ut have not hatched out. 

 The 3'oung Nicobar which was hatched in Jul}-, 1905, has not yet 

 come into mature plumage, it is much more of a red-bronze 

 hue and not nearly so green as that of the adult birds, and the 

 white tail is still lacking. The nest is simply a few sticks laid 

 together, either in a rocker\' or the ground, or on the top of 

 a stump 



Cockatiels which usually do well with me, have laid dozens 

 of eggs, but have not hatched out a siugie chick. 



I fear in very many aviaries results have been small this 

 year. (I^fidy) N. L. F. Dunlkath. 



A SCARLET TANAGKR\S EvSCAPADE. 



Sir, — I have received the following in a letter from my 

 friend, Dr. Walker, which I think will be of interest to the 

 readers of " Bird Notes." 



" And now I am going to tell you of the romance of a 

 Scarlet Tanager, which you can take if }ou like as a high 

 testimonial to the stamina of the bird you sold me earlier in the 

 year. Whilst I was from home in the end of September, 

 Sheffield had its first week of fogs for the present season. If 

 you have not felt one similar you cannot guess what it tastes 

 like. It came unusually early and unexpected. My maid who 

 looks after the birds in my absences did her best, but un- 

 fortunately a Pekin Robin (female) first succumbed. That was 

 the one which nested earlier in the j'ear. A green female 

 Budgerigar went same road, and the morning before our 

 return, when the maid opened the shutters between the closed 

 and open parts of the outside aviar}' out fluttered the vScarlet 

 Tanager, who was always first in the morning, and fell on the 

 ground apparently dead. The maid picked it up, took it out and 

 laid it (seemingh' lifeless) on the table of the summer house. 

 When she went to look at it again it was gone and she fancied 

 a cat must have taken it. 



^lore than a week later I heard that a Scarlet foreign 

 bird had come to live on estate, more than a niiie from 



