Brrrdinq 'Rr/^nlfii at TarV Lodge Ariarirs. 181 
Waxl)ill for little as 3s. 6d. a pair! 
Tlio Waxhills apnoal to nio so stronj^ly that [ have 
devotinl an entire aviai'v to them, and that the most sheltered 
aviary of the whole .-^eries and so far I feel the results have 
justified my c.\])eriment, for in June of this year a pair of 
Piretinches turned out a nest of five young-, all of which were 
fully rcai-ed. (iiven a really good shelter and a peifeetly shel- 
tered flig-lit, 1 consitler the Cordon Bleu one of the easiest birds 
to Iceep, liut they cannot stand three thii^gs, viz: 
1 . Change of place . 
"i. Cold (lamp weather. 
."!. JlLsturbaiioi' . 
They are not great bathers, nor are they prone to egg- 
bin din j,- over much. 
I have written more than I intended, but like the 
Irish orator I don't know when to stop. Wishing " An 
revoii '' to our fascinating little Cordon Bleus, without which 
no aviary is, to my mind, quite complete, I will pass on to 
our next Waxbill, viz.: The Green Av.4DAvat {Stictospiza 
jormosa). I wonder why the genius (or is it genii) who gave 
birds their English names did not call it a Zebra Finch; it is 
much more like a Zebra than the real Zebra Finch, or the 
Orange -breasted Waxbill. 
Green Avadavats are loveij' birds — quite as beauti- 
ful as Cordon Bleus, but of course an entirely different scheme 
of colour. Here we have a beautiful blending of greens and 
yellows, with most distinct Zebriform stripes on each ilank. 
The cock3 are decidedly larger and purer yellow than the hens. 
There is no mistaking a true pair of these birds. I consider 
them far more delicate than the Cordon Bleus. In 1913 a 
whole lot came over but I doubt if a dozen or two of that 
lot still survive. I tried and tried again before I finally suc- 
ceeded in breeding them, and then they bred so late that the 
young died a week after leaving the nest. But Fate has been 
kinder to me this year and I have three fine, sturdy young 
birds six weeks old. Their first nest was a typical dome- 
shaped structure, built entirely of bast (or raffia grass). Four 
or five eggs form the clutch, and the incubation period is 
about ten days. The egg is white, and of a fairly roundish 
oval form. Both birds incubate and they share bed and board. 
