70



Aviculiural Notes for the past Year.



with Rain Quail (C. coromandelica'). The hen Pectoral laid two

clutches of eggs but entirely refused to sit, although the eggs,

or at any rate one egg, tested in an incubator, proved to be

fertile.


In August, seeing that my attempts at hybridization had

failed, I replaced a hen Harlequin in the aviary, and within a

fortnight she had commenced to lay in a beautifully concealed

spot in a clump of grass. On September ioth she brought off a

brood of seven, three eggs containing dead chicks being left in

the nest. All seven chicks have been successfully reared, and

have turned out to be all cocks except one !


The little Olive Finches ( Phonif ra lepida ), to my mind

some of the most charming birds one can keep in a large out¬

door aviary during the summer months, have reared no less than

eight young birds. The first brood consisted of two 3^oung

birds which unfortunately were left in the same aviary when the

parents had gone to nest a second time.


The second brood resulted in three young birds, and

immediately these left the nest the parents turned upon the two

young birds of the first brood, and in a few da) ? s these were

found dead, apparently worried to death by their parents.

Profiting by experience, the young of the second brood were

transferred to another aviary when they could take care of them¬

selves, and these and a third brood safely arrived at maturity.


Two young Turnix varia were successfully reared by hand

as already recorded (Vol. V. p. 303).


Two hen Bourke’s Parrakeets, both paired to the same

cock, nested in separate logs in the same aviary. One nest

resulted in four young birds and the other in two, all of which

were reared, though three died long after they had reached the

age at which they could feed themselves. Damp weather does

not agree with young Bourkes in an open aviary.


O11 July 23rd, two young Parrot-finches left the nest and

were successfully reared ; the red markings on one of these being

almost as extensive as in an adult, though of course much duller.


September 5th. One young Yellow-rumped Finch ( Afu/iza

flaviprymma ) left the nest. This young bird was seen to feed

itself 011 September 18th, but the parents continued to feed it for



