73



operation did not leave much mark. Since then I have never hesitated to

cutout these tumours. I simply cut through the thin skin right over the

centre, gently work off the skiu each way with the point of the knife, take

out the cheesy substance, carefully bathe the spot with warm water and a

very clean soft sponge, and close up the skiu. I cannot advise the sewing-

up process unless in skilled hands.


C. P. Arthur.



A MANNIKIN HYBRID.


Sir, —I have to record the breeding of a cross between the Bronze

Mannikin and Rufous-backed Finch (Spennestes nigriceps). There are two

of each of these birds in one of my indoor aviaries, and, apparently, neither

of them are pairs, as each has taken a mate from the other species ; but I

am not sure which are males and which are females. I only became aware

that one pair had bred when the young bird left the nest.


The nest is in a furze-branch, and was originally built by a pair of

Avadavats, with hay and aloe-fibre ; it is tubular in shape, with an opening

at one end. The Mannikins have not altered it in any way.


The 3'oung bird left the nest on the 2nd of January, and began to feed

itself about a week later. I found four dead unfledged young on the floor

of the aviary about the middle of December, which probably were from the

same hatch ; they had been overfed and were badly crop-bound, the crops

being full of whole white millet.


The colouring of the young bird is: back blackish-brown, head

darker, tail black; underneath whitish, throat and breast greyish, beak

blackish, legs dark grey, ej^es black, iris white; no markings on sides.


I am inclined to think that the Rufous-backed Finch is the hen, as

this bird most often feeds the young one. The other pair are now building,

and both birds seem to work equally.


I noticed to-day, in one of my open-air aviaries, a Zebra Finch nest

and one egg already laid ; this seems very early.


With reference to the second paragraph of “ Avicultural Small-talk,”

in last month's number, there is one feature of the Magazine that I have

been sorry to see discontinued: I allude to the descriptions of members’

aviaries and bird-rooms, which were of the greatest interest. Probably

every aviculturist, owing partly to the force of circumstances, keeps his

birds under more or less different conditions, and the publication of these

varying conditions, with some indication of the accompanying difficulties

encountered, would add greatly to our knowledge of how to keep our

birds most successfully.


Temperature is an important question, and the amount of inseft and

other stimulating food given, as compared with the space available for

exercise, in the case of hard-billed birds ; what species are found to agree

together ; and many other points would sooner become matters of certainty

if we could get a greater number of records of avicultural experiences.


As regards antipathies : I have found the Magpie Mannikins gener¬

ally very peaceable ; but they at once attacked a pair of Striated Finches

placed in the same aviary with them ; perhaps the similarity of colouring

had something to do with it.



R. A. Todd.



