296



Dr. A. G. Butler,



seems, is slight and shallow, “ saddled ” on a bough, made of

twigs, fibres, and down ; the eggs range from one to five, and are

“ greenish- white, distinctly and profusely speckled with blackish

or dark brown.”



THE PINTAILED NONPAREIL


Erythrura prasina.


By Dr. A. G. Butler.


Whereas the Parrot-Finch (E. psittacea) seems to be tolerably

hardy and quite easy to breed in captivity, the much commoner

but more elegantly formed and, in my opinion, more beautiful

Pintailed Nonpareil is generally admitted to be exceptionally

delicate and, so far as I can ascertain, has only been bred in

Germany in the artificially heated birdrooms of that country.


It is of no use to ask ourselves why this little bird is short¬

lived in English aviaries and to adopt all the suggestions which

even the most experienced aviculturists can offer ; for, when we

have done everything, the birds still die, and I believe they

always will do so unless we either keep them at a high tempera¬

ture or else buy a large number, turn them out into a sunny

sheltered outdoor aviary at the beginning of the summer, keep

them there until after the early frosts have commenced and then

confine them for the winter in a moderately warmed indoor

aviary : by this means it may be possible to save the stronger

individuals and perhaps breed a vigorous race from them in the

following summer.


Altogether I have had ten of these birds ; of these the first

two—healthy-looking cock birds, both died in three weeks; then

a pair was purchased ; the hen died six months later and the cock

only survived for seventeen months. Of six birds sent to me in

1896 one died three days after its arrival, two within a fortnight,

one in less than nine months. I turned the surviving pair into

a sheltered outdoor aviary in May 1907 and brought them indoors

again in October: they never attempted to breed throughout the

summer, and in April 1908 the cock bird died ; the hen, however,

had been so far invigorated by her summer out-of-doors that she

survived until May 1909.



