on the Violet-eared Waxbill.



303



clutches of four eggs each, one of two and another of three,

all laid in cages : also (p. 183) one of two eggs and another

number unknown laid in aviaries, one young bird having been

hatched, but not reared, on the last occasion. Mrs. Vivian in

Portugal mentions (N.S. II., p. 174) two clutches of two each,

the eggs being pure white, about the size of those of Gouldians.

Mrs. Reid’s birds (several pairs) commenced to lay in the month

•of February, Mrs. Vivian’s in January. Mrs. Reid tells us that,

in one instance when they sat during the day but not at night,

the female and the male bird took turns at sitting, and relieved

each other with the greatest regularity through the day. The

•species, although so accommodating up to a certain point,

persistently draws a hard and fast line somewhere—in my

opinion they are unwilling to breed seriously except in a quiet

and retired place free from intrusion and disturbance.


My old male, from time to time, took up with various

females of different species—if he could not get the one he

wanted he would make up to any one he could get. His

favourite was the White-eared Grassfinch I have more than once

•(p. 234) referred to. She had been long enough in this country

to appreciate the comforts of a snug sleeping-box in our cold

uncertain climate. The Waxbill did not approve of such a

deviation from the ancient traditions of the Violet Ears and for

a considerable time slept outside and not inside with her; but

little by little he conquered his prejudices and eventually roosted

regularly inside the box. I noticed that from the time he had a

mate of his own species he ceased to sleep under cover, although

he freely carried nesting materials to a log, and that both birds

preferred to roost outside on the top of a box in a rather dark

corner. Perhaps this disinclination to sleep in anything of the

form of a box may be at the root of the refusal of Mrs. Reid’s

Violet-eared Waxbills to incubate their eggs until, on the last

occasion noted, they had built a proper domed nest of their

own.


And how about the moult of our Violet friends ? Do they

naturally moult twice in the year or only once, and, if once, at

what season ? On October 19 last, when I had four of these birds,

I made the note—“There has been a lot of moulting lately” ;



