82



Correspondence , Notes, etc.



to hear the other birds ; but evidently he knew his own pen. He has been

much quieter since his experience of liberty.


Albert J. Saeter.



YELLOW BUDGERIGARS.


Sir,—A pair of Yellow Budgerigars came into my possession last

April. Later on in the year I came across a cocoa nut husk that had been

hidden away for years. This was hung in a small cage as an amusement

for them to nibble. As the opening to the husk was small, I noticed after a

time they had bitten away more than an inch, but it had been taken off as

straight as if it had been sawn. Then a few days after they took possession

and cleaned out a lot of the inside lining of the husk.


I kept a daily’- chronicle of their doings.


On the ioth September I heard a twittering, and a few days after

there was a shell at the bottom of the cage. Often both birds were in the

husk. All went on peaceably until the 28th September, when I found the

hen chasing the cock all over the cage. I thought it was to encourage the

young to make an attempt to fly. About 11 o’clock there were cries of

distress, and the hen had pinned the cock down in a corner. I had to

choke her off to make her loose her hold. The poor cock’s mouth was

bleeding, part of the left cere pecked away, and the right shoulder

smothered in blood. He was put into another cage, and lay at the bottom

as if about to die. He was ill for some days, and I was afraid I should have

lost him, but he is now picking up again.


Their only young bird was a solitary female which flew out for the first

time on October the 9th. It was rather fainter in colour than its parents,

but almost as large as the mother.


I have never put Budgerigars up for breeding before, and I would not

have troubled you with this, but that I thought it must be an exceptional

case for a hen bird to suddenly assault the male and nearly kill him.


W. T. CaTLEUGH.


[This was probably the result of too close confinement in a cage.

They would do much better in an aviary’.—E d.]



BREEDING RESULTS.


Sir,—I n spite of the bad summer we have had, I have reared in my

outdoor aviary two Golden - breasted Waxbills, nine Saffron-finches and

a Cordon-bleu. I had a nest of young Red-headed Gouldians, but a

Parrakeet got in by accident and killed them.



N. L. F. DuneeaTh.



