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Probabty owing to insufficiently dense cover, my breeding

results have been meagre, consisting of five Zebra Finches and

two Ribbon Finches. Two of the Zebras were hens, and, after

attaining full plumage, died from egg-binding in the Autumn.

The same fate overtook the old hen with her third nest; a hen

that I bought to replace her soon followed her to the grave.

The young cocks and the Ribbon Finches, which were both

cocks, are still strong and healthy.


With Parson Finches, I have been as unfortunate as

Dr. Butler: my pair, after making various desultory pretences

to commence housekeeping, onty settled down to serious work

late in October, when the hen promptly succumbed to egg¬

binding. Mr. Abrahams kindly presented me with another hen,

which, in a short time, met with a similar fate.


During the season I had several other losses, mainly from

diarrhoea, probably from leaving green food in the aviary after it

had lost its freshness.


On the North side of this aviary I have built a house

about five feet square and six feet high. The walls are formed

of half-inch boards inside and out, with roofing felt between ;

the roof has the felt outside ; a skylight and windows on each

side give the necessary light. In this house I have hung up

several small travelling cages, substituting for the wire fronts

pieces of cardboard with a small hole in the centre, and fixing a

perch in front; filled with hay, these cages afford a warm refuge

for my birds on cold nights.


For the winter, I have only left in this aviary Zebra,

Ribbon, Parson, Saffron, Nonpareil, and Indigo Finches ; with

the help of a few mealworms about three days a week, these

have, so far, stood the inclement weather perfectly.


For a bird-room, I have made use of a greenhouse about

tw’enty feet long b3 r fifteen feet wide. On benches round the

sides are arranged six cages, three feet long, two feet wide, and

nearly three feet high, three of these are box cages ; there are

also six smaller cages. On a centre bench are three small

aviaries, about five feet square, and five feet and a half high. The

chief fault with this house is that it gets rather too warm in bright

sunny weather, in spite of free ventilation and an outside blind ;

I hope to obviate this difficulty in future by having a much

thicker blind on the south side, raised some inches from the

roof to allow the air to play between it and the glass. To

economise fuel, I have covered the glass on the east end with

felt and fixed mats round the sides for the winter. I have



