i So



lay he would come every five minutes to see how matters were

getting on, and, as soon as she had laid, turn her off the nest

and play with the eggs !


They would not, however, sit, and I removed the eggs on

the 22nd. The next day, the cock had recommenced craking.

On the 24th, a new nest was hollowed out and lined with bents,

dry grass, etc. On the 28th, they began to lay a second clutch

of eight eggs, and the cock ceased to crake. On the 23rd July,

eight young were hatched, incubation, which lasted 17 days,

having been entirely carried on by the hen. During the first few

days after the young w~ere hatched, the cock was not allowed to

approach them, but was relegated to a small corner of the aviary;

the young were attended with great care by the hen, who fed

them from her beak with egg, ants’ eggs, and live ants, but not

until they were four days old did I see them attempt to pick up

food for themselves. On the fourth day, I was greatly surprised to

see the cock and hen lying side by side and brooding the young

together; thenceforward, they have both undertaken the parental

duties, the young attaching themselves equally to either. If,

however, I show them a Hawk, the hen at once retires to the

farthest corner of the aviary with all the young, while the cock

with outstretched wings and ruffled feathers rushes to the attack,

biting the wire and uttering a piercing cry not unlike that of a

Hawk itself.


For a fortnight matters went on well, when all the young

were seized with a disease—about which I should be glad of

information, if any member could give it to me. Their mouths

became choked up with a yellowish cheesy matter like a deposit

of tubercle. They were so small at the time that at first I dared

not meddle with them, but after losing five of them in the course

of a week, I tried cleaning out the mouths of the remainder,

morning and evening, and then washing them out with ‘Sanitas/

and thus succeeded in curing two of them, which are now seven

weeks old and fully feathered birds. The old male bird suffered

from the same disease last year, when full grown. Can it be

hereditary ?


This is, I believe, the first known instance of Corncrakes

breeding in confinement; but should members know of other

instances, I should be glad if they would inform me.


Such is my breeding season. In some ways it is a

disappointing one, but were there no difficulties to be overcome

the pleasure of aviculture would, in my opinion, be greatly

diminished.



