148


The following reply was sent to Mrs. Hamilton :


Your letter has been forwarded to me, but I am afraid I cannot help.

I can suggest no improvement in the food : you can add millet if yon like.

It is one of those cases where, the cause of the mischief being unknown,

one can suggest no remedy.


I have known the same thing happen to aviary-bred birds : the first

plumage was quite sound, but a sort of French moult came on in the

second year. I presume the bird has been kept out of doors and without

artificial heat.


You can try a few drops of Parrish’s Food in the water, but I do not

expect any amendment. If one could administer sulphur, it might do

some good (c). F. G. Dutton.



THE CALIFORNIAN OUAIL-


Sir, —Referring to Miss Aldersou's interesting article on page 136, all

the Old World Quails, so far as I am acquainted with them, are true ground

birds; but the American Quails belong to a different sub-family. In the

wild state, the Californian Quail {Lophortyx califomicus) does not seem to

perch very much on trees, but in an aviary a good specimen invariably takes

freely to the perches: and a beautiful addition it is to a large mixed aviary,

from which, however, it has usually to be summarily expelled on account

of its quarrelsome nature. On one occasion, to mate with an odd female, I

obtained a fully adult aviary-bred male which had been reared in a “ run,”

and never saw a perch until it reached my hands. This bird kept almost

entirely to the ground, and for weeks did not attempt to follow the female

to the perches, and never took kindly to them.


Not onl) ? in the aviary, but also in the wild state does this species

occasionally nest in trees. I suspect that, as with Ducks, this exceptional

site is resorted to only when the bird is not satisfied with the privacy or

safety of the quarters provided for it on the ground, or (in the wild

■state) has been alarmed or had its nest destroyed by some ground creature.


The average number of eggs laid by the wild bird is about fourteen ;

occasionally the number found in a nest is much greater, presumably

produced by two birds.


As a rule, the female broods the young; but, if she should go to nest

a second time, which is probably the exception rather than the rule, it is

her custom to hand the first batch over to the care of her mate while she

sits on the second clutch of eggs. Reginald Phiixipps.



IDENTIFICATION OF WAX BILL.


Sir,— I have a little Waxbill, the correct name of which I am a little

doubtful| about, and would be glad if you could enlighten me in the

Avicultural Magazine. It is the size and shape of a Cordon Bleu. Colour —

olive brown, lighter underneath ; bill red, with black line on top of upper

mandible ; red line over eyes ; rump and tail red. I had thirty pairs of

mixed small birds from an importer last spring, and amongst them were



(<r). If Mrs. Hamilton will be advised by one who has never kept Pennants, she will

not give Parrot-food; hut will give a few mealworms. — A. G. II.



