324 



Young birds were hatched on the second, and all the suc- 

 ceeding attempts, but although I did everything possible to 

 assist theparents to rear them I was always disappointed. One 

 clutch reached the age of fifteen days before they died, and 

 they had scarcely commenced to feather. At this age the young 

 Aurora Finch has a dark brown skin, grey nesting down, black 

 beak, and a bright blue gape line. 



A solitary young Common Avadavat came out of a rain- 

 sodden nest, before it was fully fledged. I found the poor 

 little mite shivering at the Ijottom of the bushes, and replaced 

 it in the nest several times, but all to no pi:rpose. It was dead 

 the next morning. 



This was the last chance of success with the Avadavats, my 

 three hens shortly afterwards being murdered by a Spotted 

 Firefinch. 



A pair of Cordon-Bleus succeeded in hatching their eggs 

 twice, but in both cases the young ones died before they were 

 able to leave the nest. 



Green Avadavats, Orange-breasts and vSt. Helena Waxbills 

 built several nests, but nothing ever left them except the old 

 birds. 



Both the Common Waxbill and the Orange-cheek some- 

 times make their nests on the ground, well concealed among 

 the long grass, and a male of the former and a female of the 

 latter mated, and built several such nests. In one case young 

 were hatched, but they shared the common fate of the other 

 j'oung Waxbills. 



I ma}' say here that a Waxbill of any kind has never been 

 reared in my aviary. 



A cock Red-backed Bunting {Emberiza rutila) mated with 

 a hen Lapland Bunting. She built a neat nest amongst some 

 hay, under a clump of ivy. Her first egg was broken, and for 

 the second I substituted that of a Greenfinch, but she never 

 laid again, and two or three mornings later I found her dead. 

 The eggs were very small for the size of the bird and resembled 

 those of a vSkylark, but with much warmer brown markings. 



In March a cock Nonpariel Bunting chose for a mate a 



