330 On the Breedi?ig in Captivity of the Red-backed Shrike.


mesh of the netting all too plainly marked : the cat had evidently

seized the face or bill of the bird and pulled the head off, the

body being too large to pass through—and yet there are persons

who are surprised that I am not fond of cats !


Golden-throat No. 2 seems to have died after it left my

hands. In the autumn of 1904, No. 1 was forwarded to the

Zoological Gardens, where, in the Insect House, it was looking

very well when I last visited the place.*


Habitat: “Eastern Himalayas, Nepal to Manipur.”



ON THE BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY OF THE

RED-BACKED SHRIKE.


(Second Notice y.


By Dr. Albert Gunther, Hon. M. Avic. Soc.


The pair of Shrikes, whose breeding operations I had the

pleasure of reporting in the Avicultural Magazine of last year,

have bred again in the present year.


I moved them from their winter quarters into the aviary

which they occupied last summer, on April 24th ; it took some

time before they settled quietly down to their domestic life.

At one time, and for several days in May, the female chased the

male ceaselessly and mercilessly; and it was only in the middle

of the month that the parts were reversed. By the end of May

the loss of the feathers round the base of the male’s beak showed

that he was engaged in building the nest. But although he had

ample materials for its construction, he merely lined with fine

grass the bottom of a basket hung in the same holly-bush which

was the homestead of the family on the former occasion. No

doubt he saved himself a great deal of trouble by this proceeding.


Oviposition was interrupted by a spell of cold rainy

weather, and in the end the clutch consisted of four eggs only ;

incubation commenced about June 10th. Two of the eggs were

hatched on the 24th, and the young left the nest on July 10th.



* The foregoing- was written some months ago. On visiting the Zoo. this last June,

I found the Barbet in the Western Aviary, looking neither in good colour nor in good

spirits.—R.P.



