74



hope that the exercise, and the animal food which they are able to pick up

while at large, may lead to better results.


Of smaller birds, of which I have no great number, three young

Parrot-finches were reared, as I have already reported in the Magazine.

Six young Red-lieaded Gouldian Finches were hatched, but, owing to the

unaccountable death of their parents, perished. My disappointment was

to some extent lessened by the fact that, through this mishap, an interest¬

ing account of the curious mouth-decoration of these callow nestlings was

communicated by Dr. Butler to the December number of the Magazine.

My female Rock Thrush very unluckily slipped out of the aviary-door,

just as she was at the point of going to nest ; and, being hunted away

by a pair of Starlings who had a nest close by, I never was able to recover

her.


Several young were hatched, and two or three reared, of the rare

Columba laurivora, from the Canary Islands. A pair of Diamond Doves also

nested, but several clutches of eggs were destined by a pair of Parson-

birds confined with them; and after I placed them in another aviary one

young one was partly reared, but, as often happens in confinement, the

parents went to nest again too soon, and the young one, not being able to

feed itself, perished, in spite of the charitable attentions of a cock

Painted Quail—who, although he could not feed it, was seen to brood the

young Dove on the floor of the aviary, when it was deserted by the old

ones. W. H. St. Quintin.



A WEASEL IN THE AVIARY.


Sir, —One morning in the last week of November I noticed some Quaii

feathers on the ground of the aviary. One of my Quails was missing, and

appearances indicated that it had been killed and dragged into an artificial

burrow originally constructed for Shelduck. Here "was an enigma. The

wire netting is three-quarter-inch, with half-inch round the bottom ; and I

could not find any hole in the ground through which an enemy could have

intruded. No rat could have obtained an entrance, and I could only

conclude that a weasel had climbed up the wire and squeezed through the

three-quarter netting. Being satisfied as to the nature of the culprit, and

also as to his whereabouts, I arranged for his capture. The first thing to

do was to clear out and square the mouth of the hole, and set a Brailsford

trap before it in such a manner that the little wretch could not easily leave

the hole without passing through the trap. A strong tool was then worked

down to the wooden roof of the burrow, and bumped on it for a short time.

Although the inmate must have been thoroughly frightened he remained

indoors. I then went away, and within lialf-an-hour found a very small

weasel in the trap—he quickly met death by drowning. Needless to say

I was well satisfied to have escaped with the loss of a single bird. The

moral is, when building an aviary with wire netting do not use a larger

mesh than half-inch.


Chas. Louis Hett.


THE WILD CANARY.


Sir, —I have lately bought a bird from a dealer described as a Wild

Canary from the Canary Islands. It is very like an ordinary Green Canary



