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BREEDING HYBRIDS.


Sir, —I should like to know if there is any chance of the eggs from a

cock Goldfinch and hen Green Singing-fincli being fertile ? They have

paired, and she has laid two white eggs, in a box. I can put them under a

Canary who is a good mother. I also saw a Canary pairing to a Saffron-

finch, and I think one of her five eggs is good, so I have put it under the

good Canary who has a nest of clear eggs by a Grey Singing-finch

—Canary mule. This is his second attempt, and all clear eggs. He is

now pairing again with No. i hen. Have Saffron-finches ever bred mules

by a Canary, or Green Singing-finches and Goldfinches? There are a lot

of Canaries which the Goldfinches might have paired with. I have two

young Virginian Nightingales that are giving me^a lot of trouble; they left

the nest at ten days, half feathered, and the weather is so cold. I go and pick

them up and try to get them to sit in a travelling box. I took the cock

away, as he ate the last. The hen feeds them on beetles for choice.


- M. C. Hawke.


The follow ihg reply was sent to the Hon. Mary Hawke :


It is quite possible for eggs produced by a hen Green-singing-fincli

paired to a Goldfinch to be fertile, and the resulting mules ought to be very

pretty birds.


It would certainly be safer to let a Canary hatch the eggs ; as. on three

occasions, when Green-singing-finches have laid in my aviaries, the eggs

have all disappeared on the completion of the clutch, either the cock or

hen having evidently eaten them.


Your question respecting Saffron-finches having mules by a Canary

interests me greatly; as I made several attempts to breed with cock

Saffron-finches and hen Canaries in 1899, without result, but, the year

previously, a Saffron-finch hen which had paired with a Canary in one of

my aviaries brought up three mules, two of which unfortunately died during

their moult; the third,—alien, I exhibited at the Crystal Palace, where it

was ignored by the judge. This bird is still living, but has so darkened

with age, that its Canary characteristics have almost disappeared. one

strange peculiarity about it is, that male Saffron-finches are afraid of it ;

whereas a cock Yellow-Hammer chases it continually, under the impression

that it is a hen of its own species.


I hope you will be successful with the Cardinals. A. G. BuTEKR.



AMAZON PARROT WITH INSECTS.


Sir, — A young Amazon Parrot of mine is much troubled with insects

— a kind of louse apparently — notwithstanding that every care is taken in

keeping her cage clean. Can you suggest a remedy? Pyrethrum powder

naturally suggests itself, but how to apply it is the difficulty. She is very

tame under usual circumstances, but would, I am sure, resent the lifting of

her feathers sufficiently to get the powder thoroughly amongst them. She

was watered with a watering pot yesterday, a little *■ Condy’s ” fluid being

mixed with the water. We are such good friends now that I hesitate to do

anything against her will.



