The Marquess of Tavistock — On Individuality 131


Adelaide— a bird of the year ; it is only fair to him to add that next

season he lived a fairly reputable life, and even brought up a child of

his own. Then came the war ; the birds were neglected and the

yellow-belly and others disappeared — so I cannot say whether the

reformation would have been lasting.


At present in my collection I have another bird of abnormal

character — a cock Redrump. I have had many Redrumps — including

several pairs at liberty. The cocks, without exception, have been

faithful and devoted husbands and very good stayers, but if ever

a hen Redrump met with a fatal accident her mate, after a few days

of anxious, fruitless calling, invariably departed and was never heard

of again alive. I therefore learned this lesson- if you lose one of a

pair of Redrumps at any time of the year replace it at once or else

catch up the survivor. Last year I bought a cock Redrump as a mate

for a hen that seemed anxious to nest. He was rather fat and " soft"

when lie arrived and did not seem particularly interested in the nest-

box, but he settled down before long and eggs were laid in due course.

About this time a hen Blue-bonnet in another aviary laid three eggs

and then got ill, and I put the eggs in the Redrump's nest along with their

own. The Redrump's eggs all proved clear, but the Blue-bonnet's

hatched. One youngster died in the nest, the others flew, and the cock

Redrump showed himself a most devoted foster-father. But about

this time I noticed he was becoming exceedingly short with his wife —

in fact, he would hardly allow her to come out of the nest-box. The

hen Redrump, however, made the best of a bad job, by laying another

clutch, which, like the first, proved clear. After that I took the nest-

box away, and soon afterwards gave the entire family — reduced to

three by the death of another Blue-bonnet — their liberty. From that

time onward the cock Redrump would have nothing more to do with

the hen and associated entirely with his adopted daughter, and if the

hen Redrump tried to join them she was promptly driven away. At

the beginning of winter I broke up the alliance by sending both Red-

rumps to an aviary in the Isle of Wight. Here, apparently, the cock-

became reconciled to his first mate, but when nesting-time came she

unluckily died egg-bound. Some little time later I had him sent back

to me and turned him into the aviary where he had nested the year



