31(1 Brcrdii/o oj the Occipital Hliic-I'ic. 
Breeding of the Occipital Blue-Pie. 
I)V Mai ku i; A.MSi,],k, Al.i;., F.Z.S. 
My luck was certainly in, when I was ai)lc to ublain 
a pail of this species in full bret-dini^ condition right in the 
midst of the season. 
("A coloured pl.itc and iiolcs of this species appeared in " Bird Notes " 
for No\eniber 191 j. — Ed.]. 
I have never kept large predatory birds and my new 
acquisition heralded their advent at Eton with loud and rau- 
cous cries. I was relieved to find them amiable; the cock 
allowed !me to handle him and place a copper ring on one 
leg; possibly he may have looked upon it as a sort ot mar- 
riage ceremony; it had, however, a more practical meaning, 
viz. : to enable one to distinguish the two birds more readily. 
Books tell us that the female has a much more power- 
ful bill. I cannot see any such difference in size; the, colour, 
however, is (juite distinct, being coral-reel in the male and 
orange in the female. 
They had already made ai. attempt at breeding in a 
large cage with their previous owner, so 1 made all necessary 
preparation for a renewal of the effort to reproduce their kind. 
The aviary I was able to give them is of quite modest pro- 
portions, some i8ft. long by 3 ft. wide and 7ft. high; it has 
a shelter ai one end with a 'paitly glazed front. In the shelter 
1 prepared a beautiful nesting site of wire netting and broom 
branches, nicely hidden 011 every side, except on that facing 
the glass front of the shelter. Here they would nest and I 
could inspect whenever I pleased. The birds, however, re- 
fused to be .-^ubject to such scrulin)' as latei events revealed. 
In the course of a few days 1 noticed the cock feeding 
his mate, and 1 took notice ot the favoured foods as a possible 
help if any young should be hatched. 
On June 2iid, 1 found some twigs of privet at the 
bottom of my nest; in the meantime Mr. B. T. Stewart, their 
late owner, had sent me a basket in which the birds had laid 
while in his possession; this I had hung up' securely at the 
bad: of the shelter, above rive feet from the ground. 
No 'more building took place, as I thought, for a few 
