

NOTES AND QUERIES. 431 



reputation of doing much harm by destroying ova and fry of all kinds of 

 fish. My experience, however, points to the fact that fish in any stage is 

 not an exclusive diet or staple article of food, and if more attention was 

 paid to, and accurate observation made of, our feathered friends, we should 

 find a much less number of enemies amongst their ranks than is generally 

 supposed. Aquatic insects and plants are much oftener found in the 

 stomach of this species than any fish remains, and even if an occasional 

 fish is iindulged in, surely it need not be grudged from the abundance 

 at hand. I very much hope these birds will return again to their old 

 haunts, and with their summer note of " krew — krew," build their nests 

 and rear their broods. If not, the bird-lover as he wanders along the 

 banks of the old Avon, will have lost one source of pleasure in the absence 

 of the comparatively shy and retiring, but nevertheless active and vigilant 

 Coot. — G. B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants). 



Goldfinches breeding in Captivity. — The opinions generally expressed 

 on this subject are so conflicting, and in the main adverse to a satisfactory 

 result, that my experience may have some interest to those who study 

 such matters. Mr. A. H. Greene says, "The males might pair with 

 Canaries and produce mules, but the females are not at all likely to breed 

 in captivity." Dr. Karl Russ, in his list of birds which will breed in 

 captivity, omits the Goldfinch, as though it were quite out of the question. 

 In spite of these difficulties, I determined to make the experiment. In 

 1891 I attempted to get my birds to pair, but they did not even build a 

 nest. I tried again this year, and this is how I managed : — I put a 

 Russian male and a German female Goldfinch, which T had had about two 

 years, about the end of May, in a London breeding-cage, and placed them 

 in a quiet room. The hen laid her first egg on the 1st of June, and laid 

 one every day afterwards until the full number (five) was deposited. She 

 sat on them for fifteen days, but without result. At the end of about a 

 week she again commenced laying, missed a day, and then continued until 

 five were in the nest. She had sat ten days, when I looked in the nest 

 and saw that two young birds were hatched. She did not seem to notice 

 them, but began to sit on the remaining three eggs. I put near the nest 

 some egg chopped fine and bread-crumb. I then moved her off the nest, 

 and, after waiting some time, closed the door. She then appeared to 

 understand what was expected of her, and commenced feeding them, and 

 then went on sitting on the eggs. Next day two more young birds were 

 hatched, the remaining egg proving addled. In a fortnight the youug had 

 a good many feathers, and in time they all got out of the nest. I think 

 they are hardy birds, for when I went for my holidays I took them with 

 me to Somersetshire, stopping first at Oakhill, near Bath, and then at 

 Locking, near Weston-super-Mare, and from there returned to my home in 

 London, but they were not affected by the journey. Whilst the old Gold- 



