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two winters and was brilliantly red when I turned him out, has

never come properly into colour again, having only patches of

red about the breast all the year round. I consider the Silver-

bills about the hardiest of all these birds. They never even

look cold. I have also had a Tong-tailed Grassfinch out all this

winter and it seems perfectly hardy. It sings occasionally—

a sort of weak Parson Finch’s song—so I thought it was a

cock bird, but have recently discovered it was sitting on a nest¬

ful of eggs, and as its only friend in the aviary is a cock Zebra

Finch I am beginning to think it must be a hen bird in spite of

its song. The eggs, however, have all turned out bad.


I afterwards added another aviary at the back of the first

one, consisting of about 12 ft. by 7 ft. wire run, and a house with

cement floor at the end for the birds to feed and roost in.


It is colder and less sunny than the other, but I have bred

lots of Budgerigars and Canaries besides Redpolls and Linnets

in it ; and Saffron F'inches nested, but were easily disturbed, and

proved so quarrelsome—not to say murderous—that I had to get

rid of them. The Budgerigars do not seem to mind any amount

of cold, and nest all the year round. The water in this aviary is

often frozen solid. I hope to let in more sunshine from the south¬

west by cutting down a tree. I am sure sunshine is almost the

most important point to consider in choosing the site for an

aviary.


ODDS AND ENDS.


By Reginald Phillipps.


(Continued from page 124).


Since the foregoing was written, I have received Mr. A. J.

Campbell’s new book, “ Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds,” in

which appears a remarkable statement made by the Director of

the Zoological Gardens, Melbourne. Concerning a certain male

Satin-bird in captivity, the author writes,—“ It is interesting to

learn that this bird did not don its full livery of blue-black till

the fourth year.” Appended to this remark, a foot-note by the

Director runs as follows :—“ I think this particular bird must

have been of mature years when Mr. Bailey first got it, as many

years ago I caged a number (at least a dozen) of these birds at

the gardens here, young green birds, caught at Gembrook, and it

was only after the expiration of nearly eight years they began to

change colour. I think four or five birds put on the beautiful

blue-black plumage, and in a year or two died off. It is, there-



