Correspondence.



269



fixed up a nesting platform of sticks in the spring which the

birds promptly took possession of and laid two eggs. One got

broken, but the second hatched, and the young bird, which is

now about ten days old, is doing well.


Red-winged Starlings and Grey-winged Ouzels have young,

and we have chicks of Satyr Tragopans, Peacock Pheasants,

Sonnerats Jungle-fowls and several of the commoner Pheasants.

Of ducks we have some fifteen Carolinas, three Red-crested

Pochards, three Andaman Teal, eight Variegated Sheldrakes,

and fifteen Wigeon, and still a good many eggs to hatch.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.


BREEDING OF THE RED-VENTED BDUE BONNET.


Sir,—I do not know if the Red-vented Blue Bonnet Parrakeet has

nested and reared young in this country before, but in case it may not these

few notes may be of interest.


In the spring of 190S I obtained a pair which had been privately im¬

ported; they were in perfect health and plumage, so I turned them out at

once into an unheated outdoor aviary, where they had a compartment con¬

sisting of a small shed and rather long flight to themselves; they took very

kindly to their new surroundings, were not wild and never ailed in any way.


I11 the spring of 1909 they paired and scraped a hole in some saw-dust

there was in a large nesting-box, but did not lay, and in 1910 they did

much the same ; but early this spring, the winter having been very mild,

they began to take interest in an old stump of a tree I put 011 the ground

in their shed and which was hollow and had several holes in it. About

March 4th I missed the lien for a few days, but on the 17th she was out, so

I looked in and saw certainly one egg, though there may have been more.

After that she was seen off but once till April nth, when she came out for a

short time, and then did so daily, remaining out longer each day till the

end of the month, when she no longer remained in the nest during the day.


On May 14th the first young bird came out, it was quite full-feathered

and flew about well, but returned to the nest frequently; 011 the 19th, a

second came out, and it was also full-feathered and able to fly, and I then

looked in at the nest and saw one egg remaining, I suppose an unfertile one.

The young birds never made the least noise, and there was no evidence of

their being in the stump, except that the old ones consumed a larger

quantity of food than they could want for themselves.


These Parrakeets, though coming from a fairly hot part of Australia,

must be very hardy, as, during the end of March and fore part of April



