142



Correspondence



One pair of Bullfinches nested for some weeks in a little basket in

their cage, laying eggs and tossing them out again. The hen scornfully

tears out all the nesting stuff I put in the basket for her, and dragged

up tufts of grass which she pulled up by the roots to the basket to make

her nest. She does not mind anyone looking at her as she builds and

lays. The cock sings to her all day long. I never had Bullfinches

quite so tame, for I can let them out singly or together to fly about

the garden, and they come back at my call.


Katharine Currey.



BREEDING ROSEATE COCKATOOS


Mr. Cosgrave writes me from Lilford Hall that a pair of Roseate

Cockatoos have bred successfully, the three young birds flying round

the park with their parents making a very attractive exhibition.

The nest was in a natural hollow in a tall tree, all artificial nesting

sites such as boxes being rejected.


Cockatoos are good breeders, given suitable accommodation. The

Sulphur-crest has often bred at liberty at Lilford, and Leadbeaters breed

yearly at the Zoological Gardens.


D. Seth-Smitii.



CORRESPONDENCE


Sirs, —In your article on the “ Ways of Eagles ” on page 93 of the

present volume of the Avicidtural Magazine, you say : “ I believe


it is the common impression — it certainly was mine—that Eagles as

a class are, ior the most part, independent hunters, disdaining piratical

methods of picking up a livelihood.” In that case, it will interest most

members to know that the reverse is the case, with a very few honourable

exceptions. Of the true Indian Eagles, the only regular hunter is the

Golden Eagle ( Aquila chryscetus). The Imperial (A. heliaca), the

Steppe (A. bifasciola), the Spotted (A. macidata), and the Tawny*

(A. vindhiana ), etc., are all pirates and scavengers. I do not mean to



