44 Breeding He.suHn in My Aviaries {France). 
mate the hens be."ore thej^ are two years old; but one of my 
hens was not mated ,and there were no nest receptacles of 
any kind in the small aviary she occupied, Ivut she died of 
eg-g-binding like the others. 
Bronze-winged Pigeons (I'haps cJialcoptera) : I have 
had no success with this species, though the.v have nested anil 
hatched out young, but these have been killed in the )]Ost 
by mice perforating their breasts during the night. 
Similai' failure has attended my pairs of Blue -Bonnet 
Parrakeets {L'seplwtua haeuia'orrhous), and Black-cheeked 
Lovebirds {Agapor/iis nigrigenis); but they are very young 
birds. 
Diamond Doves (Geopclia cuncata). Of this species 
I ihavc two pairs, but all their eggs were infertile, YQt I 
have seen them mating' frequently. As I have reared many 
young ones in past years, 1 think this failure j^oints to the 
necessity of inti'oduction of new blood to my stock. 
Bleeding-heart Pigeons {I'ldugociias cruentala). I have 
two pairs, and between April and October they laid a good 
number of eggs, but they would not incubate more than four 
to seven days and many eggs have been found cold and lost 
for incubation. Some eggs were given to the Australian 
Crested Pig-eons to incubate, etc., with success. 
Eed-cre;-ted Cardi.ials {Faroa/ia cuviillala). My paii' 
proved so pugnacious that I )iad to remove them from the 
aviary, thus taking away their opportunity of nesting-. 
^\■hite Java bparrows {Munia oryzivora v. alba): These 
also had to be removed because of their pugnacity, Imt they 
nested and reared young in their small cage, the nest recep- 
tacle being a very small barrel. 
Virginian Cardinals {Cardinalis cardinalis). I lost the 
hen bird and was unable to g-et another to my great disap- 
pointment. Hens of this species appear to have been very 
scarce hi France and also in England during- the past year. 
A warning; 1 lost a beautiful pair of Red-rumped Par- 
rakeets througli putting perches of Acacia wood in their aviary. 
I am convinced this wood is very poisonous for them, as after 
eating it they were dead in a very short time. 
Yellow-winged Sugarbirds {Coereha cyanca): I bought 
a pair of these loveiy birds in the spring and was very pleased 
