Bf ceding of the Pine Grosbeak in Captivity. 55


BREEDING OF THE PINE GROSBEAK IN CAPTIVITY.


By W. H. St. Quintin, F.Z.S.


If anyone wants a charming pet for the garden aviary,

which will be tame with its owner, and gentle to its fellow

captives, and at the same time one which will never give him a

moments' anxiety in time of bad weather, let me recommend the

Pine Grosbeak. I have now kept several for nearly two years,

and know no hardy bird which shows itself better, and is so

lively, without being restless and timid.


Though the aviary is rather a large one, and is secluded

from traffic of persons passing, my birds are extraordinarily

familiar, and I can stand within a yard or two while the

Grosbeaks are busy with the hawthorn sprays, or larch branches,

or whatever delicacy is in season.


I started the summer with three males and a female,

having lost one of each sex in the spring as I will describe later

on. Of these males one had a slightly injured wing, but he was

otherwise sound ; and, like the other males, in fine rosy plumage.


Several Missel-Thrushes' nests were put up in likely

positions, but the Grosbeaks took no particular notice of them.

On the 28th May my man Arthur Moody saw the hen Grosbeak

arranging some twigs in the fork of a yew, in rather an exposed

position, but to some extent screened by the upper branches of

the bush. To his surprise, she took up a small bit of a dry

spruce branch which he tossed on the ground, and carried it up

and laid it with the others, and for some twenty minutes or so

she picked up twig after twig as fast as he threw them down

for her.


The solid foundation of the nest was made altogether in

this way, the male not assisting at all. Possibly the inconvenience

of a slightly stiffened wing prevented him from helping.


Pine roots, and coarse bents were used as a lining, but no

feathers or soft material ; the nest being much like that of the

Hawfinch.


On June 3rd the first egg was laid. On the 6th she had

three eggs and began to sit. On the 20th June a young bird was

hatched in the morning, the other in the evening of the same

day. During incubation one egg was cracked, and was^found



