on the Breeding of some Birds at Gooilust, Holland. 37


a cold wet day very much, and often die if the sun is obscured

too long.


The pretty Turtur humilis is the most prolific and most

successful breeder of all the exotic doves I know ; all the summer

the broods succeed, one upon the other, and the young ones are

nearly always reared.


A pair of Sonnerat’s Jungle Fowl was very successful in

its breeding operations, and I succeeded in rearing ten chicks,

which proved to be five cocks and five hens. The hen laid three

times, each clutch consisting of four eggs. The first two clutches

I took away and put under bantam hens, whilst I left her the

third clutch on which she sat herself, hatching four chicks. One

of these died and the other three are now nearly half grown.


The two first clutches produced seven chicks which are

now almost full grown. The chicks are beautifully marked with

rich chestnut markings on orange yellow and are reared on ants r

eggs. The cocks of these two earliest broods are now assuming

their full dress plumage. The waxy yellow spots of the back are

the first to appear, and are almost complete now ; in the oldest

birds the ornamental neck feathers and those of the tail are now

only just beginning to sprout.


The old cock when moulting after the breeding season is

over, does not get his yellow-spotted neck feathers in the first

instance, but assumes a sort of eclipse plumage, the new neck

feathers being short and plain grey.


At the present moment (Sept. 8th) the cock is assuming

his breeding or nuptial dress, and all his ornaments are growing

again.


Incubation lasts 18-19 days.


Amongst the Waterfowl that bred here I may mention the

breeding of a pair of Golden Eyes (Clangula glaucion , Linn).

The birds had been on my pond six or seven years, but in May

last the female laid for the first time. She laid three beautiful

green eggs in two boxes placed on poles in the water, but did not

sit herself, so that the eggs had to be hatched by a domestic hen.

The three eggs hatched, but one chick died the first day, the two

others growing into a fine pair of young birds which are now full



