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last year he reared two broods in an aviary containing' Ribbon Finches,

Bengalese, Bronze Mannikins and Dwarf Finches.


Ribbon Finches h ive never been troublesome in my aviaries.

Last year more than a dozen were reared by two pairs, each pair in a

different aviary. Neither pair did any harm to the weaker birds around

them.


Birds will often live peaceabl} 7 in an avian - for a year or two and then

suddenly turn spiteful. But I never knew a spiteful bird become good

tempered.


Horatio R. Firtmrr.



BREEDING REDRUMPS IN A CONFINED SPACE.


Sir, —The July number of the Magazine contains some very interest¬

ing reading, including “ The Nesting of the Rosy-faced Dove Bird,” by Mr.

Phillipps. The few notes I am sending form, as it were, the counterpart to

his very interesting article. His Dove Birds had often almost unlimited

space, a garden covered with wire netting—a perfect paradise for birds;

while my Redrumps have bred most successfully in a comparatively small

box-cage, three feet six inches long and rather under two feet wide and two

feet high. I lodged the pair in this box-cage rather late last season. The

first nest, then, produced three fine females, successfully reared and dis¬

posed of. Another nest succeeded, quite late in the season, but the parents

came into moult and the eggs, nearly all good, were eventually abandoned.

The pair passed the winter in their box-cage, in the garden, and the first

egg was laid this season on March ist; the clutch consisted of five. We

had some rather cold weather during the mouth, but two young were

hatched, and I have them still — male and female. A second nest followed

in due course, of which the first egg was laid on May ist; six eggs formed

this clutch, and four hatched, successfully reared—three males and one

female — I have them still. The hen is now sitting again on five eggs, the

first of which was laid on July 4th ; they appear mostly good, having

darkened, and, bar accidents and moult, I expect another lot of nestlings.

I think this a very good performance for birds in such limited space. The

pair are unrelated: the hen I bred myself four years ago, and the cock,

about her age, was purchased.


Their box-cage is fitted with two nest boxes, one at each of the back

corners; lids are made to them, and to the cage to correspond, so that the

goings-on can be seen from outside: I get a peep, now and then, when the

hen is off, feeding. The cage is, of course, wired at the front, but half the

wiring has a piece of felt tacked over, for privacy.


These few notes tend to show that great space is not alwaj's necessary

for keeping and breeding birds, even when as large as Redrumps. If their

cage were rather larger, it would not perhaps be a disadvantage ; but it is as

it is, and as long as they do so well in it I shall not change it. The old

birds, and all the young, are in perfect health and plumage, and could not

look better if they were in an aviary twenty times the size. The young are

taken away from the parents as they get old enough to feed themselves,

and are placed in similar cages. They are quite tame.



A. Savage;.



