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Mr. Hubert D. Astley,



A pair of diamond and a pair of necklace doves were both

sitting well and quietly in the same aviary, being its sole occupants.

There had been a little dislike shown by the latter birds to the hen

diamond at the first, but it was so long ago and things had been

so peaceable that I had forgotten all about it.


Then, suddenly, one rainy morning the poor little hen diamond

was found murdered and wet through out in the flight, the cock in

the shelter bravely still sitting on the nest. He sat all day and then

left the eggs, and we moved both him and them. The necklace

doves seemed to have no quarrel with the cock bird.


One egg was bad, the other I nearly threw away, though it

was evidently good, but I ended in slipping the tiny thing under a

barbary, already sitting on four eggs of their own. Next morning,

greatly to my surprise, I found a very healthy little diamond dove

hatched. Of course I took the barbary eggs away and hoped they

might feed the little mite, deciding to hand-feed it in the afternoon

if they had not started, for it is quite easy to hand-rear a baby dove.

But the afternoon proved too late, for the nestling was dead. I

think it had had no food. It was dead in a sitting posture and

weighed only about one 8th part of an ounce. The body was covered

with huffish down, it was especially thick on the breast, the feet and

legs were leadish pink and each little claw was like a tip of crimson.

The wings were the same colour as the feet and had no down on

them ; the beak had the dark spot on the tip very distinctly marked.

As a rule my young doves are not pretty, but this little thing was so

dainty and perfectly formed that I could not help feeling sorry that

for once I had decided not to interfere and had left it till too late.



HOME NOTES.


By Hubert D. Astley.


If members would keep notes or diaries of their observations

amongst birds in freedom or captivity, they might not infrequently

supply the magazine with interesting copy.


As a matter of fact I, and probably others find the same, do

not seem to have time for such note-making, and have to trust to

memory. By-the-bye, the Curator of birds at the London Zoologi-



