3°



constantly feeding it from their crops. I was, however, again to

be disappointed. On July 8th, I noticed the young Cuba was

too weak to leave the ground, and, thinking to save it, I picked

it up and placed it in the nest. The parents immediately flew to

the nest, and the male appeared terribly excited, flying into it with

great force, and seemed to be trying to kill his offspring instead

of feeding it. I believe his intentions were indeed murderous,

for shortly afterwards the poor young bird again fluttered to the

ground weaker than before. I then tried to feed it by hand. It

took yolk of egg off a straw, but next morning it was dead. The

day after this, July ioth, I was surprised to find an egg in the

Cuba-finches’ nest. They had commenced to breed again before

the young one could feed itself, and consequently had deserted

it. The batch of eggs this time consisted of three only, one

of which disappeared during the sitting, and I never found it

again. On July 26th, one young bird was hatched, and the third

egg was found to be clear. This time I was determined, if

possible, to prevent the parents breeding again until the young

one could take care of itself. I accordingly put the nest and

young one into a cage, and securing the parents placed them

with it. All went well, and as soon as the young one left the

nest on August nth, I removed the nest. This time I was

rewarded with success, and the young Cuba-finch now takes full

charge of itself. It is a hen and could scarcely be distinguished

from its mother, when only about six weeks old. I put the

parents and the same nest back into the breeding aviary 011

August 30th, and, on September 3rd, the first egg of another

batch of three eggs was laid, which however came to nothing.


I cannot find any record of Phonipara ca?iora having been

bred in Britain before. The allied species Phonipara lepida has,

I am told, been bred this year by a gentleman in Scotland, two

males and a female being successfully reared (a).


The Double-banded Finches have proved very prolific with

me. My pair made a cup-sliaped nest inside a cocoanut husk,

hanging high up on the wirework side of the aviary. The

materials used were hay and a few feathers. Here they succeeded

in bringing up three broods of two, four, and three young ones,

respectively, and they are now sitting again. In addition to

those mentioned, I have two more young birds from the same


(a). I think these three young birds (from Dundee ?) came into my hands, but they

seem to be adopting the plumage of P. pusilla rather than of P. lepida. The song, how¬

ever, of the surviving male (the other died from the effects of the journey) is totally

different. My old female Pusilla (Vol. VI. p. 239) took to them, and they to her, at sight,

the old widow mothering and feeding the young as if they had been her own—R.P.



