JVood- Swallows Breeding in Captivity.



299



WOOD-SWALLOWS BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY.


By E. J. Brook.


A pair of White Eyebrowed Wood-Swallows (Artamus

superciliosus) have reared one young one that is now flying in

the aviary. Am I right in supposing that this is the first

instance of a Wood-Swallow being reared in captivity?


When I saw that this pair of birds had mated, I found a

bit of a tree root with a rotten cup-shaped hollow in it. I wired

this lump of wood 011 to one of the joists of the roof inside the

aviary, and close up to the boards of the ceiling.


The pair soon took to this nesting-place and carried in a

few very small bits of stick but made no regular nest. The first

egg laid proved clear ; after this one was removed another was

laid three days later but was broken, four days after that another

was laid and successfully incubated.


Both parent birds sat, relieving each other at short in¬

tervals. The egg hatched on the 14th day I think, and the young

bird left the nest fourteen days later. Both parent birds fed

the young one, but the cock was the best feeder, and much the

keenest to find tit bits such as small flies, etc. Only live insects

were given to the young bird until it left the nest, but since then

the cock has given it occasional morsels of the ordinary insec¬

tivorous mixture.


While the young bird was in the nest the old birds kept

the nest clean by removing the excreta in their beaks as Starlings

do.


The young Wood-Swallow was practically reared on meal¬

worms as other insects have been very difficult to get, there

being very few caterpillars in the garden this year, and the old

Birds would not look at woodlice, cockroaches, etc. A dead

rabbit proved very useful to attract flies, and it was a pretty sight

.to see the old birds catching them.


The young Wood-Swallow is a dull dirty grey in colour,

the breast being much lighter than the back, and the whole is

striped and mottled with dirty yellow. The beak is very short

and horn coloured, and this is the colouring of the legs.



