Correspondence , Notes, etc.



winters without snow, and as a rule the frost disappears by eleven o’clock,

but there is a good deal of cold wind.


They are housed in a very large packing-case, and inside there is a

small box where they stay all day or run into if disturbed in the evening.


We have got a small Owl here about half the size of the other, say

twice as big as a Blackbird; it is called the Morepork, which it calls out on

moonlight nights pretty plainly. It inhabits large trees so overgrown with

creepers that it is difficult to get its nest. It is not nearly so scarce as the

other. I think a pair might be got for £20, but it might take a year or

more to procure them. The Morepork is a great mouser, and eats moths

and such like : it is hardy in confinement and any kind of meat that is not

tough will do.


Both these Owls are a tawny brown. The large Owl has black eyes,

and the small one bright orange-yellow. In any good museum library you

can see in Buller’s book (2nd edition, Vol. II.) a good cut and description of

both. ( Signed) W. Smyth.



SINGING-FINCHES BREEDING.


Sir, —Referring to Miss Merrylees letter, I find the Grey Singing-

finch most easy to breed in a large aviary, and the young are reared

without any trouble. I notice that when the birds have young they pick

the green food over very frequently. I supply large bundles of flowering

grass, shepherd’s purse, plantain (rats’ tails), lettuce, cliickweed, groundsel,

and any plant or shoot from rose or fruit-trees that is infested with blight.


The Grey and Green Singing-finches I find cross very readily, the

young taking after the Grey, but generally shewing the dark clieek-mark

of the Green ; they are excellent singers. Are these cross-bred birds likely

to be fertile ?


F. H. Rudkin.



THE DIAMOND DOVE.


Geopelia cuneata.


These beautiful and graceful little Doves do extremely well in out¬

door aviaries in which there is plenty of cover in the shape of growing fir

trees and bushes or bundles of thick brushwood. In my own aviary

nest after nest is built and the young are reared without the slightest

difficulty. The nest is placed generally from five to ten feet from the

ground, and is made of very fine twigs and bents. It is difficult to say

exactl}' how many young have been reared this year, but I think ten or

twelve. I11 the winter the Diamond Doves certainly need warmth ; the

cold seems to paralyze them, especially the hens, and I used generally to

lose several before I had my aviaries properly warmed in winter.


D. SETH-SMITH.



