On the Nesting of Jerdons Accentor. 359



COLOUR OF REDPOLLS IN CONFINEMENT.


By H. Wormald.


It is, I believe, a generally recognised fact, that Redpolls,

Linnets, etc., almost always lose the rose tints on breast and

flanks during their first moult in confinement, so that I hope

the following may be of some interest. I bought two immature

Redpolls in the early autumn of 1907. That autumn and last

they moulted, and as I expected showed no colour. But this

autumn they have both moulted and attained the red on the

head and pink on the breast. I have never before known a case

of their assuming colour in confinement, and only one case of

their retaining it ; this was a wild-caught bird in colour belong¬

ing to a cousin of mine, who kept him in a cage in rather a dingy

bedroom for three years, during which period he retained a most

beautiful colour; he died this spring, and the skin is in my

collection. I attributed the reason of my birds coming into

colour this moult to the fact that I keep them in my Waders’

Aviary, where this spring I planted a lot of reeds and rushes, on

whose seeds they have fed for the last month or two, and I believe

the seeds of rushes to be the natural food of Redpolls at this

season.


Mr. St. Ouintin tells me that his male Pine Grosbeaks never

lose their colour, but then his birds are an exception !



NESTING OF JERDON’S ACCENTOR.


Tharrhaleus jerdoni.


By W. E- Teschemaker, B.A.


Two pairs of this charming little species came into my

possession on the 4th May, 1908. having been brought home by

our member Capt. G. A. Perreau. They proved to be quite

hardy little birds, as may be inferred from the fact that they

breed up to a considerable altitude in the Himalayas. They are

rather smaller than our European Accentor, with darker striations

on the back, a white stripe over the eye and a bright rufous

chest. The female is much lighter on the chest, so much so that,

after one has become acquainted with the species, one can pick



