I have had as little success in breeding this year as Mr. Savage. Some

half-dozen Zebra Finches are all I can boast of, though I have had plenty of

other nests but not a single hatch. Green Cardinals have three times built

and laid eggs; in previous years they have regularly hatched out and then

killed and cast out their young; this year they have more humanely cast

forth the eggs instead. R. A. Todd.



BREEDING RESULTS.


Sir, —In the hope that other members may be induced to give their

experiences of the breeding season just closing, I give a few notes of what

has occurred here.


A pair of Parrot-finches reared a brood of four fine young, the nest¬

lings leaving the nest-box the first week in July 7 . The red feathers are now

being gradually assumed. A pair of Black-headed Gouldian Finches, bred

by a friend last Autumn, are now sitting in a box suspended in the outer

portion of their aviary. My Long-tailed Grassfinches nested, but the eggs

proved unfertile, or the young perished at an early stage. The pair are now

going to nest again.


Several nests have been made during the Summer by the Cordon-bleus,

of which I have had three pairs in perfect condition for two years; but, for

various reasons, there were no results till last week, when, from a nest

cleverly fitted into an angle of the roof under a gutter, a brood flew.

Unluckily, the youngsters were not expected so soon, and no precautions

were taken for their safety; with the result that one of my Rollers was seen

the first thing one morning with a young Cordon-bleu in his bill, beating

its life out against a perch. Of course, the Rollers were at once shut off,

and now there is one remaining Cordon-bleu flying about and doing well.

The dead nestling showed a blue wart in the angle of the mouth each side,

and on the palate three dark spots, reminding me of the moutli-decoration

of the Gouldian Finches described in the Magazine last Autumn by

Dr. Butler.


I was anxious to give every chance to the Rollers, which at one time

appeared likely 7 to breed ; and no doubt the small birds confined with them,

though quite accustomed to the larger birds as a rule, were disturbed by the

Rollers’ restlessness at times, and I know several nests were forsaken from

this cause. Of this pair of Rollers, the male was very anxious to nest, and

was continually going in and out of a hollow log. He is very 7 tame and

impudent, and, in the Spring, when I went into his aviary, he would fly 7 on

to my head ; and if I put up my hand to push him off, he would retaliate

with digs of his powerful bill. The hen bird was timid, and as she declined

the dainties offered by 7 her mate, he used to come to me, and try to push the

mealworm, or black-beetle, under my 7 collar, or into the folds of my cap.

Finding his mate indifferent, he became aggressive, and for some weeks she

was rather seriously persecuted. Since the Summer moult commenced, I

am glad to say that he has become more gentle towards her, and I may 7 have

more success another Spring, for the hen is much less shy than she was.


To the Rollers, at any rate to the very tame one referred to, I must

attribute the loss of the first brood of Chinese Painted Quail. The Rollers

had, up to the time of the hatching of the Quail, shown no signs of

hostility towards the smallest of their companions; but the sight of the



