194



Breeding Notes for 1905.



were each found in the next enclosure but one , having somehow,

passed over, under, or through two fences of wire netting. One

of them was discovered by the sound of dry leaves being scraped

about under some dense bushes ; and each of course was quite

independent of any assistance, and was, as we say in Yorkshire,

“ fending for hissen.” I am sorry to say that neither was success¬

fully reared, one never fed very readily, and the other succumbed

to severe cramp, brought on by exposure to a slight frost. We

satisfied ourselves that both these chicks issued from the mound

at the top. Possibly the frequent excavation of holes on hot

days, which are refilled towards night by the cock bird, has for

one of its objects the keeping of the surface of the heap in a

loose condition to assist the young one in its struggles to reach

the outer world.


The aviculturist is fortunate if he is also a bit of a philoso¬

pher, for he will have to make the best of many disappointments

if he is inclined to keep, or still more tries to breed, difficult

subjects.


The saddest event of 1905 I still have to record. My old

pair of Waxwings (A. garrulus') which had hatched young in

1903, and were looking in the best of health last spring, went to

nest. The female laid a double-yolked egg, then kept changing

her nest (as before I had several old Missel Thrushes nests fixed

up in the aviary, which the Waxwings lined to their taste) and

finally was seized with a paralysis which rapidly increased and

ended fatally. Sad to say the cock was found sitting on the

ground by his mate’s body, and the following day he died also.

I was from home, and unfortunately no special examination was

made, but I have little doubt that it was a case of shock, not

unusual where birds have been mated together, as in this case,

for several years.



THE LATE CANON TRISTRAM.


By the death of Canon Tristram, D.D., F.R.S., which took place a

Durham on March 8th, the Avicultural Society has lost one of its most

distinguished Honorary Members. He was a great traveller, a great

Naturalist, and a great Churchman, and one of the founders of the British

Ornithologists’ Union.



