Breeding of the Cuba?i Colin. 369


BREEDING OF THE

CUBAN COLIN (OR BOBWHITE).


Ortyz cubcinensis. (Gould).


I have also bred this beautiful Ouail, or Coliu, which is,

I believe, distinct from the “Bobwliite” of North America.


In June the female constructed a nest in some long grass,

hollowing out a receptacle for her four creamy-white eggs, rather

smaller and rounder than those of the Californian Quail’s, and

pulling a roof of grass over to conceal it.


I believe the hen bird would have laid more eggs, but

during the spell of chilly weather that we had at the time of the

Coronation, she died, and I had to put the eggs under a Bantam ;

the result of which is that I have two young ones now half

grown (14th of August).


When first hatched they were tiny balls of very dark-brown

fluff, but now the crown of their heads is cinnamon brown, the

underparts pale fawn, and the upper parts dull brown, each feather

on the back and wing-coverts having a straw-coloured quill with

the same tint former a small spot at the extremities.


Since they have been hatched some half-grown rats man¬

aged to squeeze through the wire-meshing, out of which some

Parrot-finches had never escaped ! and killed not only the male

Cuban Colin, but also three Parrot Finches.


Can I, in the case of the young Cubans, again claim to be

the first in the British Isles in rearing them ?


% % % %


I might add that this summer the following have nested :

Ruddy-headed Bernicle Goose (Fulkland Islands). Young

reared annually.


Great Bustard. Eggs; unfertile.


Shamah. Eggs; destroyed before hatching.


Straw-necked Ibis. Eggs ; thrown out by other Ibises, with

young ready to hatch.


American Robins (Turdus migratorius). Three young ones,

killed (probably by Orange-headed Ground Thrushes) when

a week old.



