THE



Hvicultural /nba0a5ine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. IV. — No. 44. All rights reserved. JUNE, 1898.


BREEDING INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS.


By Reginald Phillipps.


In responding to Mr. St Quintin's invitation to say a few

words about the breeding of the Shama, I may commence by

remarking that I have always a certain number of large,

often rapacious, birds— formerlj^ I had a great many — and that,

as my space is verj' limited, breeding with me has been almost

an impossibility, and rarelj^ attempted except when the birds

insisted upon tempting their fate. Moreover, my outdoor

aviary, although provided with plent}^ of shelters, is simpl)'- a

little walled-in garden (an ordinary cats' playground) covered

over with wire netting to a height of over nine feet, so that the

inmates and their nests are much exposed to the weather ; for

most birds in a natural garden-aviary will roost and build in the

shrubs, and rarely will take to artificial nesting - places or

structures (see, for instance, " How the Birds learn." Vol. III.

p. 174). Again, strange as it may seem, I could hardly obtain

such a creature as a mealworm, and the few I did obtain only at

fancy prices. And I was commonly absent from home from

morning till night, the birds being left pretty much to take

care of themselves, so that m}^ experiences in this particular

direction have been incomplete.


Some of the Mynahs used to nest very freely; the most

energetic and persevering were a male Acridotheres cristatellus 2iW^

a female A. tristis ; many eggs were laid, and mostly stolen by the

male, but a few young were hatched and partially reared.

Artificial food only was supplied, with which the parents were

dissatisfied ; mealworms and cockroaches would have saved the

young. But the nest of all others I look back upon with sorrow

and regret contained four as strong young White Jackdaws as

ever were hatched. The male, who stole the first &^% as soon as

laid, had been removed, and the female would not feed the young

on artificial food. I can still hear her voice as I opened a window



