oh the Breeding in Captivity of the Red-backed Shi ike. 34


May 22nd to 28th. The lien attends most assiduously to

the duties of incubation, while the cock takes no part in them.

Twice only has she yielded to the temptation and come to my call

to receive from my hand her allowance of mealworms. Other¬

wise she depends entirely on her husband who carries every

kind of food to her. But he exercises great caution in this,

never approaching the nest when he perceives or fancies himself

to be observed. Tame and without any fear as he is in his

intercourse with me, he never betrays by any action the presence

or locality of his nest.


The forenoon of the 27th must have been particularly

trying to the hen : a violent thunderstorm of two hours duration,

with torrents of rain broke over Kew, but she did not allow

herself to be disturbed.


May 29th to June 2nd. The storm of last week was

succeeded by some days of dull weather; the temperature fall¬

ing to 48°, and rising at midday to 59 0 . The hen would not

leave the nest at all during the day, but I provided at nightfall

an extra supply of fresh food with mealworms and cockroaches,

which she would find in the early morning, beside the food

carried by the cock. This practice I have continued throughout

the breeding period.


On June 3rd the weather had improved, and noticing the

hen twice off her nest, I took this opportunity of entering the

aviary with the object of having a peep at the eggs. But the

hen foiled me both times ; she slipped into the nest before I

could reach it; and, moreover, the second time the cock made a

most determined attack upon me, inflicting a deep scratch with

his claw upon the side of my face. I tried to drive him off with

my handkerchief, but this made him still more furious, although,

fortunately for my face, the handkerchief became now the object

of his attack. My speedy retreat restored his equanimity, and a

few minutes afterwards when I offered him a mealworm, he was

as amiable as ever.


Five young were hatched in the night from the 5th to the

6th of June. The incubation px'obably lasted 14 days, the normal

period stated by all ornithological authorities. Wild Shrikes



