Up any food whatever, taking all their nourishment by sifting

the surface of the water ; so unless on a pond with abundance of

natural food, they would soon perish. Ours were reared by

scattering fresh ants’ nests on the water, when the cocoons to a

great extent float.


To those interested in the moulting of Waterfowl, it is

most interesting to note that the first plumage assumed by the

young drakes in Autumn is not their full Winter breeding

plumage, as in the majority of the wild fowl, but the eclipse

plumage ; the full colour will have to be assumed in the Spring.

So these young drakes will have to complete three moults in

little over six months.


The Pratincoles that I had great hopes of disappointed me,

as I was sure of at least one nest ; so did also my Rosy-breasted

Gulls. These latter are only three years old, and Gulls are

always a long time coming to maturity. It is very curious to

note that the breeding colour of the soft parts of this Gull are

exactly the reverse of what might be expected—the red legs and

beak of Autumn and Winter are changed to black in the

breeding season.


The last nests to record are those of the Gouldian

Finches. As in other years, these charming little birds nested

in the Autumn, each pur hatching four young ones in the

middle of September, the whole of which they reared.


Without pretending to have discovered how to manage

these little birds, I may say that since I procured one pair, five

years ago, I have found them the hardiest and most prolific of

small birds. I put them out in the perfectly open aviary in

April, where they moult, and commence to breed in the end of

August or beginning of September, and I bring them in about

the middle of November—not that they appear to feel the cold

at all. Fast Autumn the original old pair hatched two clutches

of six, and reared them all. When rearing their young I cannot

detect that the old birds eat anything but hard seed, although at

other times they are very fond of grass seed, and of pulling out

the young shoots of grass on the lawn and eating the succulent

ends. The seed can be seen in the crop of the young birds,

apparently just as it is shelled ; but presumably it is somewhat

softened in the crop of the parent first. I tried two pairs of

these birds in the same aviary, for the first time, this }^ear ; but

although in a fairly roomy compartment, 20 ft. by 10 ft., they

fought so desperately that I had to leave one pair in possession.

Except when nesting, they appear the most peaceable of little



