article on “The Food of Birds in Captivity.” I hope it may not prove

ultimately injurious to them. They seem also greatly to relish linseed. I

should be glad to hear what green stuff they should be given, and whether

they have been known to breed in captivity.


I may say that, though very wild when first I had them, the hen bird

will now dance on my finger when I put it in the cage, and both birds will

take food, when hungry, from the hand.


With anticipated thanks for any information which your Council

may kindly furnish, Thos. P. Buttivant.


P.S.—At present my birds have shown none of the uuamiable

characteristics attributed to their species by Dr. Greene in “ Feathered

Friends,” page 183. Can you tell me what is the standard authority on

Parrots and Parrakeets ?



The following reply was sent to Dr. Bullivant :


I should give the Pennants hemp, canary, millet, and oats in equal


parts.


Sunflower seed and linseed are said by Beclistein to be fattening, and

I should give those as a treat twice a week. Ret them have groundsel,

chickweed, plantain, and watercress for green food.


I think Russ’ is still the best book, if 3-011 are a German scholar; but

I confess I pick every one’s brains who can tell me anything about Parrots,

and am more and more itnpressd with the smallness of our knowledge

about them.


They have been bred in captivity, but I have never heard of their

being bred in a cage. F. G. Dutton.



NESTING BOXES.


Sir, —Some years ago I invested in a foreign-made Tit-box, but could

not induce the Tits to use it. My next attempt in this direction was a

hollow tree, some 15ft. or 20ft. high, which I put up for Owls. This has

likewise proved a failure owing, I believe, to its exposed position.


A hollow log, placed in a large ash tree, has proved more successful.

It was at first tenanted by Stock Doves, but last year a pair of Barn Owls

reared a brood, or at any rate a young one. This I saw in the daylight, and

it was of a very dark colour. There is a similar example of melanism in

the Booth Museum at Brighton, and another was advertised in the Feathered

World last 3'ear.


M3- other nesting-places consist of boxes of all sizes and shapes :

hollow logs and 18-gallon beer casks. The latter are appreciated by Stock

Doves, and in 1898 a pair of Barn Owls occupied one for a few months.

At the end of May one of them flew in at about four in the afternoon ; I

watched them out that evening, and they never returned. Had the vagrant

been searching for new quarters ?


In making my boxes, the size of the entrance has always been a

matter of doubt (a). It is to be regretted that Mr. Martin did not give the



(a). The name and address of the makers, who doubtless would forward a copy of

their illustrated list, is Gebriider Hermann and Otto Scheid, Biiren in Westfalen.—O. B). C.



