192



Breeding Notes for 1905.



I feed them on an ordinary insectivorous mixture, soaked

water biscuit squeezed very dry, with a few sultana raisins. They

are exceedingly fond of the latter dainty, also oranges, which

they will absolutely finish with the exception of the peel. They

love mealworms; but seemed rather afraid of some cockroaches

I introduced into the aviarjq killing them with sharp pecks,

given as they dart down and back from an upper perch (much as

I have seen my Grackles kill a mouse) but they never attempted

to eat them.


If I could give them an aviary to themselves they might

possibly nest, and they could certainly be studied with far greater

advantage, but they could not be trusted with smaller birds.

I believe they could be wintered easily in a cold aviary ; they

appear very hardy, and have been out many days this winter,

they bathe constantly, and are always vigorous, tight and sleek

in feather.


(This remarkable Starling is confined to the Philippine and Sulu

Islands, and we believe Mrs. Johnstone’s birds to be the first living

examples ever imported. Ed.]



BREEDING NOTES FOR 1905.


By W. H. St. Quintin, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


The first event of interest amongst my birds was in the

third week in April when a pair of Temminck’s Tragopans took

possession of a Pigeon’s nest fixed up for them in a spruce tree

in which the hen laid one egg. For some unexplained cause,

perhaps the very unseasonable weather, she laid no more, and

never incubated. Presently she went seriously amiss, and I

nearly lost her, but she quite recovered in the end. Another

pair laid three eggs 011 another artificial nest, also up in a tree ;

but these eggs too were unfertile. My old pair of Demoiselle

Cranes hatched two young, and all seemed going on well. But

a very cold, dry, spell cut short the supply of insects, before the

young would take any artificial food ; and at once the parents

favoured the stronger of the two youngsters, and neglected the

other completely. It was strange to see the old Cranes, naturally

so devoted to their young, applying the law of the -‘survival of



