304



Mr. A. C. Drelincourt Campbell



likelihood of the fancier obtaining an example of any of them. One

of the nearest allies of the Chats, according to most ornithologists,

is the Dipper, which when wild is such a lovely sight in his haunts

in some mountain valley, where, especially in the early mornings,

the varied chirping and whistling notes of his delightful song, first

low then loud, ring out nearly the whole year round. In captivity,

on the other hand, unless kept loose in the bird-room, or, better still,

in a room by itself, it usually has but a miserable appearance, and,

moreover, every Dipper, on account of its unsociability, has to be

kept alone ; it is therefore distinctly a bird which is best allowed to

retain its freedom, the more so, as it is extremely difficult to meat off,

and can only be kept alive with the most constant care. Decently

there have, on several occasions, been exhibited Dippers which have

been taken from the nest and hand-reared ; but these show none of

the cheery, lively ways of the wild birds, and have no song, or, at

any rate, nothing more than a bungling attempt at one. Another

species inhabits the Swiss Alps, the mountains of Southern Europe

and Lebanon, and others are found in the mountainous parts of Asia

and America; but these we may pass over, as they can be of but

little interest as cage-birds.”



CORDON BLEU—ST. HELENA WAXBILL

HYBRIDS.


By A. C. Drelincourt Campbell.


Knowing how hard it is for our Editor to keep the magazine

going now for want of “ material,” I am writing a short account of

my success in rearing the above hybrids this year after several

failures last season, and trust it will prove of interest to some

of the members at least.


Last season I had in my small aviary, which is, roughly

speaking, about 10 x 8 x 4 ft. in size, several pairs of birds and an

odd hen Cordon Bleu (this bird, by the way, was bred in the same

aviary two years before); in my large aviary I had an odd cock

St. Helena Waxbill, so, just as an experiment, I took him out and

put him in the small aviary with the Cordon. A few weeks after



