72



A Novice’s Aviaries.



Now as to feeding these birds. I give Canary, white and

brown millet (in three separate pans), spray millet, and eight

mealworms per pair. When they have young I give, in addition,

some of Trower’s improved “ Cecto ” food, hard boiled egg, and

fourteen mealworms.


The two Parrot Finches in D, I fancy are two cocks, as

they showed no signs of breeding and are not too amiably dis¬

posed towards each other.


Of the other birds the Gouldian Finches laid over fifty

eggs. For the most part they seemed to lay about in any of the

nest boxes in the most haphazard waj^ and, having deposited

their eggs, took no further interest in them. I had, however,

very bad luck with them, as on the night of the heavy thunder¬

storm before mentioned, three hens were all inside sitting on

eggs and their unfortunate dissolute husbands were out all night.

They all perished and the hens forsook their nests. I succeeded

in the end in getting ten young ones flying about in the aviary,

but of these six died. The Pintailed Nonpareils laid but did not

sit. The Cordon Bleus had very bad luck. They built a beauti¬

ful little nest of hay and pine-needles against the wall in the

inside aviary. They laid several clutches of eggs, but were

always interfered with by the Gouldians, who picked their nest to

pieces. Finally they gave up the nest and built in one of the

nest boxes, where they hatched four young ones, but the cock

died the day they hatched. I doubt if he ever saw his offspring.

The hen, single-handed, reared two of them till they were ten

days old, and then they died.


I forgot to mention that there is a separate division in the

inner compartment of D, and in this was a cock Red-headed

Finch and a hen Ribbon Finch. These hatched four nests of

young hybrids, but always threw them out of the nest when a

couple of days old. A pair of Harlequin Quails in the outside

flight of D reared a family also. These gave no trouble, and it

was not until they could fly that I discovered they were there.

Of the birds in C three nests of Ruficaudas and two of Long-

tailed Grass-finches were reared. The Amaduvadesand Orange¬

cheeked Waxbills also hatched out but failed to rear their young.


On the whole I do not think I can be said to have done so



