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Correspondence , Notes, etc.



any of your members been able to breed Java Sparrows in a cage, and wliat

should be done to prevent them eating their eggs? F. Harewood.


Ttie following reply has been sent to the Countess of Harewood:


The secrets of success in breeding Java Sparrows are:—


1. To supply soft food daily from the time that the birds are paired

until the young are able to feed themselves.


2. If bred in a cage, the latter should be large enough to enable the

parents to use their wings and have a daily bath. I consider a cage of 18

inches cubic measure the smallest in which success can be hoped for : my

first success was attained in a much larger cage with white birds.


3. It adds greatly to the prospect of success if one of the parents

{the hen) has been bred from white birds, or birds having white blood in

their veins.


4. A large nesting-receptacle is more likely to produce satisfactory

results than a small one; as the nest of a Java Sparrow is naturally large.

A shortish cigar-box (for 100 cigars) with about a third of the lid removed,

and the remainder tacked down, is the favourite receptacle : it should be

stood on end with the opening at the top, facing the front of the cage, and

hung up in one top corner.


I have never known Java Sparrows to eat their eggs; but my birds

have always had plenty of cuttle-fish bone and soft food to fall back upon.


I give, as seed-mixture, millet, canary, and whole oats.


A. G. BUTLER.



THE NIGHTINGALE.


Sir, — I shall be glad to know if an English Nightingale would live

in an open aviary all the year round, or would it have to be taken indoors

in the winter months ? Would it sing out of doors all the summer months?

Have any of your Members ever had any breed in an aviary ?


William B. Gibbins.


The following reply was sent to Mr. Gibbins:


The Nightingale will not live in an open aviary all the year round.

It seems to be quite unable to stand the cold and cold wet of an English

winter. It should be taken into the house for the winter. As far as my

experience goes, the male does not sing all through the summer when

out of doors. In my garden aviary it has sung brilliantly’, but never

for more than a few weeks.


I have read of several cases of the Nightingale breeding in a garden

aviary, but have no personal knowledge of a case. It will become so

friendly that I see no reason why it should not breed*.



* Mr. Babb, the bird-dealer at the Crystal Palace, bred Nightingales some years ago.

If I remember rightly they were ftying freely in a room.—A. G. B.



