i()8 .S7. Quintin : Some Aviculiural Notes. 



herself to the full extent of any assistance that we could offer 

 by way of food for the young. I have stood within a yard of 

 the nest, and seen my bird-keeper offer fresh ants' eggs in a 

 teaspoon to the old bird as she sat, which she took, and after 

 holding them in her mouth for a minute or two, probably to 

 moisten them, pass them on to the nestlings. 



Sooner or later every aviculturist is likely to have it brought 

 home to him how very highly strung and nervous birds often 

 are by nature ; and it leads to many grievous disappointments. 

 In 1903 I was the first to get the Waxvving to lay its eggs in 

 confinement. Much interest has always attached to the 

 breeding habits of this charming bird, and much mystery. 

 Until the discovery of its nesting grounds in the forests of Lap- 

 land, the egg was unknown to ornithologists. 



Mr. Wolley's exhibition of the lirst nest and eggs, the fruits 

 of several arduous expeditions in the far north, caused great 

 excitement in scientific circles. Attempts had been made by 

 keeping a flock in an aviary to get an egg or two dropped, but 

 with no success. 



Last winter I brought an egg, the first ever laid except in the 

 wild state, and showed it at one of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union meetings at Leeds. 



In 1903, though eggs were hatched at Scampston, the young 

 were not reared, and the only point gained was that the period 

 of incubation, fourteen days, was ascertained. 



I had every hope of doing better the following season, as I 

 had the same pair of birds, and apparently in splendid health. 

 The Waxwing is rather sluggish, and one would think not very 

 sensitive or emotional. However, the hen died unaccountably, 

 perhaps from egg-binding, for there was no examination ; and 

 the first sign that anything was wrong was that her body was 

 found on the floor of the aviary and the cock-bird sitting 

 huddled up close by it, and he died in a few hours. If this was 

 not death from a broken heart it was at least very near it ! 



{To be continued). 



Mr. Harvie-Brown has a note on the ' Increase of Jays in Ireland,' in 

 the Irish Naturalist for January. In the same journal Dr. R. F. Scharlf 

 records the File-fish in Irish waters. 



In The Museums Journal for January, Dr. F. A. Bather has a useful 

 and practical paper on ' Business Devices for the Museum Curator.' As he 

 poijits out, museum curators are not necessarily business men ;^ hence his 

 notes. 



Naturalist ^ 



