IO



The other compartment contains Waxbills. A pair of

Green Avadavats commenced to build in a box in the house in

May, directly they were put out, but have not reared any young.

A pair of common Avadavats built a tubular nest of hay and

grass stems on the furze, and hatched out; one young bird has

survived ; it left the nest on the 15th August, and is not yet in

colour, the back and wings are dark grey with a few white spots

on the latter, underneath yellowish white, upper tail coverts-

reddish, beak black. St. Helena Waxbills also built in one of the

box bushes, but their nest was almost immediately destroyed.


Mr. Farrar’s account of his success in breeding is cer¬

tainly encouraging, if somewhat tantalizing. It would be very

instructive if he would give a more detailed description of his

aviary: whether, for instance, it is entirely open to the air, or

has any covered refuge for his birds in frosty and inclement

weather. As regards birds injuring shrubs, I find my Cardinals

utterly destroy the ivy in their aviary, but hardly touch the box;

the smaller finches certainly do no harm to either ivy or box.


A great advantage in open-air aviaries is the amount of

insect food birds are able to procure for themselves. I have, in

particular, often noticed Indigo and Nonpareil Buntings hunting

the small flies, etc., that settle on the wire netting; earwigs are

also always abundant, and doubtless many other small insects.


I have seen it stated that Indigo and Nonpareil Buntings,

if kept together, fight incessantly ; I have had, this year, three of

each of these (a cock and two hens) in the same aviary, but

never observed any quarrelling among them.



REVIEW.


Domesticated Animals : their relation to ma?i and to his advance¬

ment in civilization , by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler , Dean

of the Lazvrence Scientific School of Harvard U?iiversity.

fSmith , Elder & Co.)


This thoughtful and suggestive work contains a good deal

which is of interest to aviculturists, and for their benefit we give

the following extracts, in the hope that they may be tempted to

read the book as a whole.


“ Wherever the vocal organs of cage birds permit them to imitate

human speech the}’ are apt to devote a large part of their labour to this-

task, paying little attention to other less meaningful sounds. It appears

to me that they perceive in a way the sympathetic character of language,.



