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they nest in February and March, but in other years these have

nested throughout the summer in the aviary.


I kept two pairs of Painted Quails ; they had to be

separated very early as the cocks fought most furiously,

allowing themselves to be picked up, and fighting whilst

being held in the hand. The hens laid the most astounding

quantity of eggs : commencing to lay in February, they laid

until July without stopping, and must have laid well over one

hundred eggs apiece. I usually left about twelve of the freshest

eggs in the nest, but it was not until July 9th that they both

commenced to sit, on ten and eleven eggs respectively. They

hatched seventeen young ones between them, the whole of which

they reared. The young ones at five weeks old were apparently

quite ready to commence nesting, the little cocks making up to

their mothers ! who had begun to lay again when their broods

were a fortnight old, and continued to lay until the beginning of

October. This enormous quantity of eggs cannot be natural, of

course, but the Common Quail will hatch and rear three or four

broods of from nine to twelve young ones in a season.


My good old female Pin-tailed Sandgrouse hatched three

beautiful young ones on June nth; they were all reared, and

proved to be two cocks and one hen. This is the first time that

the full clutch has been hatched and reared here, and these are

the first cocks, although I have bred eight hens. The cock of

this nest was a Western Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, the colours of

which are much more intense than in the Eastern form. The

young cocks, which are half-breds, shew no signs of the Eastern

form, but are most brilliantly marked. Another pair of Pin¬

tailed Sandgrouse did nothing but lay eggs, as the cock was a

confirmed egg-eater.


I will only refer to the Scops Owl by saying that four out

of the six young ones reared were given their liberty as soon as

able to shift for themselves, and that they all throve and are still

occasionally to be seen and heard about. They are most enter¬

taining to watch on the wing, catching everything in their feet,

and almost stopping still in their flight while they put their

heads down to take the moth or beetle.


Of Waterfowl, the most interesting hatch was a brood of

Shovellers—eight young were hatched from eight eggs, and

seven young ones are now full grown. The nest was nearly a

quarter-of-a-mile from the water—a most laborious walk for the

old duck, being mostly through dense cover. The young of the

Shoveller are very hard to rear, as they absolutely refuse to pick



