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Mr. F. E. Blaauw,



them. It amused itself with the nesting materials, sometimes filling

its bath with them, but showed no disposition to build and still less

to sit. The eggs are dark with purplish stains as if they had been

dipped in red wine. I would like to try the birds in an aviary but

am afraid of the cock murdering the hen. Can some Member tell

me if Bulbuls have ever bred in captivity and under what circum¬

stances ? As spring is drawing near I would like to make the

attempt if possible.


My Bulbuls are fed with bread and milk, fruit and some seed

with an occasional meal-worm of which the cock is very fond, while

the hen rarely touches them. They are very fond of the kernels of the

stone-pine and of cherries, also of pears. They are very intelligent

and their bright dark eyes are always on the look out for some

dainty. They moult very quickly, one day their head is bare and

two or three days after it is covered with dark velvety feathers,

Their song is by no means that of a Nightingale, but they have some

fine liquid notes, and they chatter a good deal whenever I go near

them and come to peck my fingers with open wings and spread-out

tails. If I had more time to give them I think they would become

very tame and as amusing as my lost pet, my Ciroquita (Sturnus

atricjularis) of which charming bird I will tell another time.



MY ANTARCTIC GOOSE.


Chloephaga antarctica.


By F. E. Blaauw, C.M.Z.S.


During a trip which I took in February, 1911, to Southern

Chile, I had the pleasure of seeing a good many Antarctic Geese on

the rocks by the water’s edge in Smith’s channel, etc., and north¬

wards as far as the southern coast of the Island of Chiloe.


The birds w T ere generally seen in pairs, the white male being

very conspicuous, whilst it was more difficult to see the female which

is blackish brown in colour. On the rocks round the coast of

Ascension, the most northern island of the Chonos Archipelago,

these birds were particularly numerous, and I occasionally saw as

many as seven together. It so happened that the ship which



