178


repeat a few bars as a call note. Talk about "scolding;" but

two Pekins can scold if j^ou go near their nest.


In breeding, of course the first thing is to get a pair. The

only sure way to distinguish the cock from the hen is by the top

of his head, which is always a beautiful mossy green colour,

and his eye markings, which are primrose colour. The hen has

a pale greyish crown and mouse-coloured eye patches. Both

birds have red on their wings and the white tail edging, which

are stated by Dr. Greene to be characteristic of the cocks alone.

Far more hens than cocks are imported.


It is not wise to look for any great breeding results from

Pekins under the most favourable conditions. In a large garden

aviar}^ the best results will be obtained. I utterly refuse to

believe that Pekins would nest in a cage or bird-room. I saw

an account of alleged nesting in a back number of the Reports

of the U. K. F. C. B. S. (c). I say alleged for this reason, that

the description of the young was utterly fallacious.


I have had several near shaves of success in past seasons,

but this year victory has crowned the efforts of my Pekins.

Last 5'ear we got as far as a completed nest ; this year we have

gone two better — eggs and 5'oung. My Pekins began operations

early in May, by building a beautiful little nest of roots and

fibre, lined with horsehair, in a box tree. The nest is really a

work of art and very cunningly hidden. The hen laid three

eggs, very large for the size of the bird, a bluish white in

colour, heavily blotched with chocolate at the big end. The

parents take it in turn to sit ; the hen takes the day nurs-

ing, and the cock relieves her about 6 p.m. The time of

incubation was about fourteen days. On looking into the

nest very casually as I passed, I was delighted to see two

youngsters and one addled ^'g'g. This disappeared in about three

days, but whether eaten or broken I can't say. At fii'St the

youngsters were fed from the crop. I saw the whole operation

through a "knot hole" close to the nest. The old birds do not

carry out the excreta, but eat it. After a few days they began to

feed on mealworms, which they first killed ; these did not.



(c) In the Report of the United Kingdom Foreign Cage Bird Society for November,

1891, where an anonymous account of the breeding- of Pekin Nightingales is reprinted

from the Bazaar, Hxc/iangf, and Mart. Tlie account bears every mark of genuineness, and

there seems to be no ground for Mr. Farrar's suggestion that it is apocryphal.

Whether or not the writer's observations were in every respect careful and accurate is

of course a different matter, upon which we express no opinion ; but we imagine that

where the anonymous writer and Mr. Farrar differ, the one is, prima facie, as likely to

be right as the other. — Ed.



