6i



moult, owiug to the heat, which caused them to bathe excessively and

produced an unhealthy condition of their cage.


A Red-tailed Finch and Zebra-finch built a very cosy nest, but the

former unfortunately died in the nest with a ruptured vent (I never

discovered the cause); she was not egg-bound.


My Rosa’s Parrakeets paired, and examined the interior of a log-nest r

but the hen did not lay; she was the bird bred in 1894: possibly, if I had

left her mother in the aviary and caged her, there would have been some

result; but the young one is, by far, the better bird of the two in

appear an ce.


My Green Cardinals built and hatched their second clutch (four eggs}

on the 8th June ; but insects were scarce, and the hen bird destroyed all

her young when they were only a few days old; a third nest of three was

almost brought to perfection when one died, a second left the nest and was

reared, but died before it had learnt to feed itself, the parents refusing to

give it anything but insects, so that it was literally starved by them, the

third young one was barely noticed after the second youngster had flown,

so that it died in the nest.


A pair of Goldfinches in one of my aviaries went to nest and hatched

four young out of five eggs, three of these left the nest on June 4th, and the

hen immediately took possession of a second nest prepared for her by the

male bird; she began to lay again on June 8th, and produced six eggs, of

which five were hatched ; the j'oung of the first nest gradually killed these,

carrying them out of the nest and dropping them on the sand until only one

was left: this I gave to a Canary which reared it, but plucked it so severely

when it left the nest that it soon after died.


Rate in the year my Java Sparrows in the bird-room went to nest and

reared three young, which I removed as soon as they could feed themselves ;

a second nest of four flew on December 22nd and 24th ; a fifth, rather back¬

ward, bird was plucked and thrown out of the nest.


On October 18th, five Zebra-finches flew from a nest in my outer

aviary^ these all passed through their moult satisfactorily and proved to be

two cocks and three hens. On January 9th, 1S96, one of the hens died from

over-filling its crop : it was, in other respects, in perfect health.


Attempts to breed Bengalese produced eggs only; specimens of Sharp¬

tailed Finches paired with Bengalee, Indian Silver-bill and Spice-finch

produced nothing. Chestnut-breast paired with Diamond Sparrow also

failed.


The result of the 3'ear’s breeding may be summed up as follows :—


Java Sparrows, 21 ; Saffron-finches, 8 ; Zebra-finches, 5 ; Green

Cardinal, 1; Canaries, 28; Goldfinches, 3. Total, 66. Of these, two Java

Sparrows, two Canaries, two Saffron-finches, one Green Cardinal, and one

Zebra-finch have since died, leaving a balance of fifty-eight birds still living.


A. G. Butter.



THE AQUARIUM SHOW.


Sir, — I expected to see, in the J auuary issue of the AvicultitralMagazine,

some reply to the criticism by Dr. Williamson of the recent Bird Show at

the Westminster Aquarium ; but, as the only ansv T er is that of the Hon. and

Rev. F. G. Dutton, who accepts Dr. Williamson’s -wholesale denunciation, I



