40



anything softer. Three days ago, on the 4th inst, I found a chance of look¬

ing in, as the birds had flown out into the room while I was giving them

food and water. There was one blue egg. They soon returned, and till now

the hen is sitting closely, and I suppose there are now about four eggs,

although I cannot be sure.



The male, from being aggressively noisy and fussy, has become

singularly quiet, gentle, and tame, moving about the aviary with an almost

noiseless flight, and now and then giving a pretty little whispering chirp.



As I am most interested in these birds, I am writing to ask your kind

advice as to what food to place in readiness by hatching time, which I

suppose will be between the 14th and 21st. At present they have millet,

canary, Indian millet, paddy rice, ants’ eggs, yolk of eggs mixed with sponge

cake and powdered Osborne biscuits, and two mealworms each. Is anything

else required for the young ?


Lucy E. Phillips.



Reply.



You cannot do better than continue your present treatment.

The food you are now supplying should be sufficient for the successful

rearing of the young. You might, in addition, give soaked millet seed,

which is made by pouring boiling water on the seed and allowing it to stand

for an hour, when the water should be strained off. Osborne biscuits contain

butter, and are therefore apt to turn rancid. Sponge cake is more suitable

for foreign birds than any kind of powdered biscuit. A little watercress

may be given, but should first be scalded, and dried with a cloth. Weavers

seldom breed in this country—no doubt j'ou maintain a high temperature

in your bird-room. On no account touch the nest or eggs, or try to look into

the nest. Foreign birds much dislike any interference, thej^ are quite unlike

canaries in this respect.


-— H. R. Firrmer.



BALDNESS.



Sir, —I should feel much obliged if you could give me a little advice

on the following matter. I have in my sitting-room a pair of Diamond

Sparrows, and one is continually plucking the neck of the other. Can you

tell me how to prevent this, as with the exception of the neck of one they

are in splendid plumage ? They are kept in a 22m. flight cage, fed on millet

(white and spraj^), and canary seed, with a mealworm or two once a week,

and a pinch of Abraham’s yolk of egg. There are no other birds in the

same cage. Do you think that if I separated them for a short time it would

do any good ?


I find on referring to the Magazine (part I.) that Dr. Butler attributes

baldness in Waxbillsto the cold; this certainly is not the case with mine, as,

if anything, my room is too warm.


Hedrey Speed.



Reply.



On their journey from Australia to England, Diamond Sparrows are

so closely crowded together that plucking, as a hint from one uncomfortable

bird to another to give him breathing space, becomes the rule; some con¬

signments, consequently, arrive in a deplorable condition of nakedness.


In some individuals the tendency to pluck, thus acquired, becomes a

habit, and the mate of such a bird has to suffer the consequence. The only

chance of reforming a bird of this character is to give it some more useful

occupation. Turn the pair into a large aviary, and supply nesting materials

and receptacles. If 110 aviarj- is available, hang up a Hartz-Canar3 T cage in

the corner of their present dwelling and give them a handful of hay and a

piece of cuttle-fish. Unless they are breeding, do not give mealworms (my

Diamond Sparrows get nothing but seed).



Dr. Simpson (not I, though I agree with him) suggests that cold delays

the reproduction of feathers which have been lost; but my Waxbills in a

cold aviary never become bare.



A. G. BuTRER.



