African Sunbirds.



61



One of the cock Guiana Parrotlets died when the hen was

beginning to use the nest-box; the other pair broke or ate their eggs.


The Indian Ringneck nested in a small indoor flight, but her

seven eggs, though all fertile, failed to hatch. Last year, when the

cock also was wintered indoors, the eggs were clear.


The African Ringnecks paired but did not nest, and the

Blossom-heads did likewise. Last year the hen, perverse bird ! laid

and incubated but refused to pair.


The Lorikeets broke their eggs through playing in the nest.


The Hooded, which are among the few Australian birds which

do not accommodate themselves to our seasons, began to moult as

soon as they were turned out. One hen, however, has just started to

sit on five eggs, :: and there is a chance of getting something from the

others when they have been turned loose in a warm room. To allow

Hooded to lay at a low temperature is almost certain to mean

egg-binding and loss of the hens.


A pair of Western Black Cockatoos have been feeding each

other, but as they must come indoors this month there can be no

hope of breeding results.


My three New Zealand Parrakeets have caused me to regret

the day I purchased them for a big figure. I had heard that the

species was prolific and gentle. Well, mine weren’t! As the pair —

brother and sister who had never been separated — were on the worst

of terms, I turned the hen into an aviary with my old cock. He

murdered her a fortnight later, and not long afterwards the second

cock died as well. No. 1 is as savage with other birds as with his

own kind, and were he not so rare I would gladly part with him !



AFRICAN SUNBIRDS,


By Guendolen Bourke.


I was asked to send a few notes to the ‘ Avicultural

Magazine ’ if I succeeded in bringing back any sunbirds from

South Africa, and this I w r as lucky enough to do in April last.

Through the kindness of the Director of the South African Museum,


* [Two young were hatched and are being reared by the cock, the ben unfortu¬

nately dying when they were half-grown. Another pair have eggs.]


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