32



Dr. Maurice Amsler,



breast yellow and the olive green of the back were duller in hue.

In the spring of this year I sent her to the Isle of Wight in exchange

for some other birds and have had no further news of her.


During the autumn the cock became very spiteful and almost

killed his lately much-beloved wife. I had to separate them for the

winter, and in March of this year, when I made sure they would get

on, I returned the hen to the breeding aviary, the bullying began

again, so for another month they were parted. On April the 22nd I

once more tried them together and this time all went well: it was

not until three months later, in July, that a nest was built. This

year, however, the birds behaved differently from last, both birds

took it in turns to squat on the empty nest and led me to believe

that the hen had laid : this continued for ten days or so, until July

22nd, when at last I found the hen sitting in earnest. I was away

for a few days after this event, and on my return on August 4th I

found two young birds about a day old ; odd that they should have

hatched on the same date as last year. This time, however, both

chicks disappeared and no trace of them has ever been seen since.

Nothing' daunted, three more eggs were laid by August 16th, and

two young thrushes left the nest on September 12th and 13th.


In two more points the cock behaved differently this year ;

he never fed the hen either before or after she had laid, and he took

no part in feeding the young, although there were two instead of

only one. He made up however by singing most beautifully every

evening until dark and also sometimes in the early morning. His

song is much sweeter and softer than that of our thrush, but at the

same time is reminiscent of that bird rather than of the blackbird.


The two young birds are growing well and are a pair, I say

this not because there is any difference in the colour of the back as

in the adult Orange-headed Ground Thrush, but because one bird is

of a much lighter body colour than the other and looks almost like

a different species. Both have brownish backs and greyish-yellow

breasts with indistinct speckles of a darker hue, there is also a

darkish line running from the eye downward across the cheek.

The cock is already moulting heavily, and the hen, poor thing, is

quite bare on the face and forehead, the result I think of digging

for worms in the hard dry earth.



