THE



Bvicultural flfoagasnte,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICU LTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. VII. — NO. 3. All rights reserved. JANUARY, 1901.


NESTING OF LAVENDER FINCHES.


fLagonosticta ccerulescens J .


By Rosie Alderson.


I purchased my pair of Lavender Finches in the spring of

1900, from Mr. Robert Green, Bedford Conservatories, Covent

Garden Market; and here I may mention in passing, that

though the prices are higher than most other dealers’ his

birds are always very good. The Lavenders, when they

arrived, were in excellent condition, and in perfect plumage.

I put them in my smaller heated aviary, with many other

small Waxbills and Finches. The first nest was built in

half a cigar box, (placed lengthways on, and divided in the

centre). F'ive eggs were laid towards the end of July. I left

home on August 7th, and learnt on my return that, when I had

been from home about ten days, three dead young birds had been

carried by the parents out of the nest. They were quite hard

and stiff, and evidently only a few days old. A little later a

fourth nestling was treated in the same manner, but it appeared

to have been dead only a short time, and was rather older than

the others. The fifth egg in the nest was clear. It was very

small, pure white, and round in shape.


Almost directly after this, indeed I believe it was the next

day, the birds began a second nest, in some Scotch fir branches,

fastened to the back wall in a far corner of the aviary. This

nest was not built in any box. It was chiefly composed of

hay, and fir needles, and was domed and oval in shape. I

returned home on September 13th, and the first news that

greeted me next morning was the information that it was believed

the Lavenders had hatched their eggs. But again my hopes

sank, for the parents scarcely seemed to go into the nest after

the first few days. I tried them with wasp grubs, ants’ eggs, and

cut up mealworms; the latter item the Lavenders have always



