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from an aviary in which a pair of Canarian Pigeons, Columba laurivom, were

sitting, or he would certainly have destroyed the nest by dashing at the

cock whilst he sat on the egg. These remarks to a great extent apply to

the other true Chaffinches from the Atlantic Islands, The Tintillon Chaffinch,

Fringilla Canariensis, The' Palman Chaffinch. F. ftalmce , The Madeiran

Chaffinch, F. mnderensis . The Azorean Chaffinch, F. moreleti , also to the

beautiful Algerian Chaffinch, F. spodiogenys. These are not so quarrelsome

as F. teydea, neither are they so hardy, but they will winter out in an aviary,

provided they have abundance of insect food or its nearest equivalent. The

Teydean Chaffinch, and all the other true Chaffinches mentioned, convey the

food to their young in their beak, and never disgorge any.



THE NESTING OF THE BLACK-TAILED HAWFINCH.


By H. R. Fillmer.


I became the owner of a pair of these birds (Eophona melanura) in

the autumn of 1S93. During the summer of 1S94 they were kept in a large-

cage, and, about Midsummer, showed some inclination to nest; but at that

time I was unable to give them proper attention, and when, a few weeks

after, I supplied them with building materials, the fit had passed off. This

year they have had the advantage of a small indoor aviary all to-

themselves. They showed no disposition to breed until nearly the end

of May. They then drove one another about a good deal, and made the

life of a Common or Red-billed Weaver (their only companion) a misery to

him. so much so that I was compelled to remove him, although they did

him no actual harm beyond pulling out a few feathers. The hen constructed

a neat nest, made entirely of hay, in a strawberry basket or “punnet” which

I had nailed to a shelf near the ceiling. Both cock and hen sing almost

equally well, and the}- both sang during the building of the nest; but I

did not hear the hen sing after commencing to lay. The hen commenced

to sit on the 6th of June, and on the morning of the iSth I heard a young

bird in the nest. The sound was precisely the same as that made by young

Canaries, and, I think, not any louder. The young bird was fed by the

parents upon egg and bread-crumbs —sunflower-seed and green-food were

also eaten, but little or nothing else. The birds would not touch any kind

of insect food. For some days a very considerable quantity of egg-food

was consumed, then less w r as eaten and I feared the worst. On the seventh

day the hen deserted the nest, and a dead nestling was found at the

bottom of the aviary. The nest was then removed and found to contain two

eggs. The male bird did not take any part in the work of incubation,

but he fed the female from the crop—in fact, the birds behaved in almost

every respect exactly as a pair of Canaries would have done. I believe that

this is the first instance of this species breeding in England—if I am

wrong in this supposition, I should be glad to be corrected. At present,

the hen shows some inclination to build again. The eggs are of a pale

sea-green colour, slightly clouded with pale brown, and dotted and splashed

with dark brown ; one of them measures just one inch in length, the other,

which is of a very elongated shape, is fully an eighth of an inch longer.



BRITISH BIRDS WE HAVE KEPT


VII.


THE CROSSBILL.


By Arthur G. Butler, Ph. D.


This bird, whose scientific name is Loxia curvirostra, occurs oyer the

entire Palsearctic region, being an irregular visitor to Great Britain, but

resident in some parts of Scotland. Its nest is usually placed in the forking

branches of a Scotch fir and is constructed of grass or stalks of plants, felted

together with moss, wool and lichens, and lined with wool or horsehair ;

outside, it is supported upon a platform of twigs of larch : two to three eggs

are deposited.



