97



Seeing the difficulty in procuring a hen Rufous-tail, I paired the

cock last year with a hen Australian Zebra Finch ; and, as they built a

nest, laid eggs, and sat well, I was rather hopeful of obtaining the cross.

I never had any young, though, and after about a month’s steady incu¬

bation the eggs (3) were thrown out of the nest and broken ; all seemed

clear. I should like to know if this cross is considered obtainable. I think

I have read, somewhere, Dr. Butler has tried the same experiment, but, if I

remember rightly, with opposite sexes to my birds, i.e., hen Rufous-tail, and

cock Zebra Finch. I do not remember to have seen the result published ;

perhaps he would kindly give the information in the Magazine (e).


Rufous-tails are certainly scarce this way (France) and, notwith¬

standing my various applications for a hen, by letters and advertisements, I

have not been able to find one since I lost mine. They are, in my opinion,

among the best of foreign aviary-finches, and it is peculiar they are so

rarely imported.


I regret Mr. Seth-Smith did not succeed in obtaining any young

from the pair that nested in his aviary; other amateurs have, unfortunately,

met with the same disappointment that he did. The nest they build (in a

bush generally) is, in many cases, a flimsy structure, so much so that the

eggs frequently fall through it during incubation ; and this may explain, to

a certain extent, the egg-tasting and eating the species is addicted to. The

hen may be the culprit. A friend of mine, who had a pair nesting in a

cage, says he saw his hen eating the eggs. The nest they built with him

was a slender affair in the green-food rack. I11 spite of their egg-eating

propensity, Rufous-tails have been bred by four amateurs, to my knowledge,

in France, and I have had bird-dealings with two of the gentlemen who

bred them. One gentleman reared, a few years ago, some fifteen young

from several pairs. If I had a pair that laid in a nest too fragile to support

the eggs and birds during incubation, I should try to strengthen the nest

underneath with liav or some other nesting material; this has been done

in this country, and the eggs, in several instances, were saved from falling

through the nest and being broken.


I think the first importation of these birds into France was in 1894,

which was the year in which they seem to have made their first appearance

in England. A. SAVAGE.



Sir,—I n August, 1S97, a pair of these birds made a neat domed nest

of hay and bents in a tuft of grass in one of my aviaries. Two young left

the nest, but succumbed to a wet chilly night two or three days afterwards.

The} 7 were of a pale brown colour, and were excessively wild, and I could

not induce them to remain in the covered part of the aviary, the door of

which had to be left open on account of other nesting birds. Unike Mr.

Setli-Smith’s birds, my pair offered no hostilities to their aviary companions;

even a pair of Cordon Bleus, incubating in a box-busli six feet away, were

not interfered with. For some reason, the birds, this last summer, though

apparently in the best of health, have not bred : possibly because, hoping

to induce them to select a more dry and sheltered site for their nest, I kept

the grass-plot cut close. W. H. ST. Ouintin.


(e). No eggs apparently were laid, but the hen sat in the nest until she somehow

managed to tear her abdomen, probably ag'ainst some projecting point in the wire netting,

and died. — A. G. B.



