Correspondence. 
291 
of the birdroom and put up a barrel for them to nest in. 
1 had liicnds with tne all .May and w.i^ only in the birdroom 
fccdinj; and ^iviii};' a look ronnd. 1 never oner saw the hen Lorikeet 
come out or go nito the ne-.t harrel, they were always sitting together on 
ihr pi rrli lurlhest away Ironi it cac h time I went in. In the last week 
of Juno I heard, wh.it I ihotiKht was ihe sound <jf a young bird, but, 
my pair ol Kcd-rumps were iilso nestiUi; in the next ronipartnient . I hoped 
they had young, and, it was not until 1 found that the Lorik(;ets were 
eating more food than usual thai it o curre l to me that ihey might liave 
a fledgeling in the nest. S') I got a chair, elimbed up, looked into the 
barrel, and saw something moving at the back of it. By that time I 
shouh' think the young bird must have been about a month old at any 
rate, for one could see the yellow tinge of the breast feathers. At once 
I gave the i>arents extra food, they fed splendidly and ten days ago the 
little Lorikeet ventured out of the nest. It was fully fledged and as 
brightly ( dlourcd as its parents, only rather Bmallcr. .Vaturally I am very 
pleasetl about it. 
The compar.ment they nested in is really only a big cage, about 
i feet square and 6 feet high. Their regular food is the usual sop- 
mixture of McUin's Food, Horlick's M.iltcd Milk, and honey, mixed with 
boiling water and poured over one and a half tea biscuits, they always have 
canary seed in the cage, of which they eat a good lot. When I found 
they were feeding young I gave each evening one third of a sponge cake 
with Ncstle's milk Cone teaspoonful with a little boiling water) poured over 
it, and plenty of grcenfood. 
The young bird now partly feeds itself and I wonder if I ought to 
take it away from the parent birds. I believe they would nest again 
but 1 cannot allow them to do so, as we make the move back to Edin- 
burgh in October, and the birds must all go too. I really think it is 
wonderful that they have been so successful, because my birds have so 
much moving about that one would think there was hardly any time to 
settle down to nesting : you see seven months of the year 1 am here and 
the other five months in Edinburgh. 
1 thought this might interest soine of our members, perhaps as much 
as it has interested me. 
(Miss) E. G. R. PEDDIE WADDELL. 
Bhtquhatstone, Stamannan, 
Stirlingshire, z^lil'i^. 
FOREIGX FL\CH CA.VARY CROSSE.S. 
Sir, — 1 do not know if an .Alario Finch X Canary is an unusual 
hybrid. My pair built a nest in the middle of May, the canary laid 
three eggs and commenced incubation on May 27th. On June 6th the 
eggs hatched out, and on June 28th, two young birds left the nest (the 
third young one had disappeared!, bur only one is alive now. It is a 
fine and strong bird, rather like a young Thrush in its markings, with 
CO trace at present of either parent in its plumage, etc. I think it is a 
cock, as he has a very masterful demeanour, even driving his father ofT 
