i62



Aviary Experience in 1905 .



Rufous-tailed Grass-finches built and began to lay, when the

Pectoral-finches appropriated the nest as a squatting booth;

again they built and began to lay, and again the Pectoral-finches

did as before. The Long-tailed Grass-finches died soon after I

bought them. The Masked Finches carried about hay, but never

built ; at the end of the season I found two eggs in a basket-nest

which they probably placed there. The Pectoral Finches only

made themselves objectionable, and one pair disappeared

altogether, apparently through a hole gnawed by mice in the

back of the aviary just above a ledge. The Gouldian Finches

built in an old straw-hat, laid four eggs which proved to be clear;

laid again and hatched out two ; these young birds remained in

the nest about six weeks before they flew, and were able to feed

themselves three days later. They are still in the young plumage

as I write. A pair of Yellowish Finches in the same aviary chased

one another from time to time, but never built, and finally the

hen died without any apparent cause. No, it was not yolk of

egg, because there was none in the aviary ; Australian Grass-

finches don’t eat it, and the Quails were not breeding.*


Not a very brilliant result from a year’s hard work, and as

an appropriate finish to the untoward events my supposed hen

Maiden Dove (I prefer the German name for Calopelia puella f),

after a month’s illness, died on December 31st ; it has never been

so strong as its mate and the cold was too much for it when the

sharp frosts outside lowered the temperature of its home to 43 0

Fahr.


My indoor and outdoor aviaries of various sizes are

practically eleven in number, though two of these out of doors,

being only separated by a door which I find it advisable to leave

open so as to afford the birds a thirty foot flight, may perhaps be

regarded as one. Taken collectively these various aviaries cover

about 900 square feet, and if they were properly constructed with

outdoor as well as indoor flights and plenty of rough cover in

the summer division, I should doubtless have been far more

successful in breeding; as it is I must be content with the



* Had the Yellowish Finches nested I should have put some egg-food out for them.


+ The name schlcgclii does not appear in the synonymy of this species, but does in the

synonymy of Henicophaps albifrons, which should be called Schlegel’s Dove.



