114 Bird Notes from Far and Near. 
during the rainy season, December to March, none of these birds 
are on the market. 
Still another circumstance occurs to me out of the notes 
of Herr Pfarer Blume, viz., the difficulty of breeding these 
Amadinen. In Sydney, however, these dainty birds cannot live 
in the open, as the thermometer often falls in winter to -f- 8° 
Reaumur, but they are however much cultivated in captivity. 
A friend who annually breeds these lovely creatures related 
to nie that he had only fed them, even when feeding young, 
witli millet. He states the broods are very mixed, often a pair of 
Blackheads have Red-headed young, mixed, or all black; seldom 
all red. The proportion is mostly one red to tiiree blacks and 
very often the colouration is something intermediate between the 
black and red. this I have also noticed among wild broods. 
I myself have never attempted to breed Gouldiaus, 
although I have from two to three hundred cage birds, mostly 
however foreign, therefore not Australian, 
Thus I have this year successfully bred the Crescent 
Widow Bird {Vidua '\_Pe»ihetria\ ardens), rearing two young from 
as many broods ; the Sun Astrilde, also Oueenslands (in three 
broods, 12 young) which are much daintier than the Gouldiaus, 
Schnurrbartchen, etc. 
Compiled from Die Gefiederte Welt, May i3tli, 1909. 
(Miss) F. B. Page. 
^' 
We are indebted for the following cuttings from the 
Auckla7id Herald (by J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.), on the 
Natural History of New Zealand, to our esteemed member Mr. 
F. Howe. 
NATURE NOTES— NEW ZEALAND. 
The gluttonous habits of the Long-tailed Cuckoo have 
become known far and wide throughout the bird- land in New 
Zealand. It is not at all surprising that the Tuis and other birds 
chase this marauder out of the bush whenever they have an 
opportunity of punishing it. There are many instances of its 
gluttony. Mr. G. Buddie, of Auckland, sent me two photographs 
some time ago of a Long-tailed Cuckoo that had half swallowed a 
fairly large lizard, and had been nearly choked by its effort. The 
lizard went down head first, but its fore-limb prevented the bird 
