A S))iall Aviar// <ni(l Its Inmates. 
2T,\ 
T have had to <^'\\o up scmo lurch, owing to their inter- 
fcM iii^' liabits. My Parson Finches were my favourites of all, 
but tiiey made a practice of si)endin,i,'- one nii,''ht in every nest 
in tlie aviary before settling down to true family life, and T lost 
several nests of other birds in t'onseiiuence. My Parsons 
reared apparently entircdy on fi-L>sh ants' eggs; I never saw 
other food taken to the nest. Most birds like the ants' eggs, 
but the Olive Finches will not look at them, and rear their 
young when possil)le on seeding grasses and green-tly. I 
have replaced the Parsons by a newly-imported " pair " of 
Aurora Finches, which, I fear, are both cocks. 
At the ])resent time the aviary contains fifty -three liirds, 
only seven of whom are caged. Of these, twenty -three are 
this season's young ones, but all are independent. In addition 
I have Canaries; Olives, Zebras, and Red -headed Finches 
incubating again. 
In my opinion, such success as 1 liave liad is due largely 
to the height of the aviary, which seems to give the birds 
a sense of security. In the case of the foreigners, as distinct 
from Canaries, it is (juite possible to note the exact period 
of incubation, feeding, etc., without actually looking into, or 
touching the nest, and the birds much prefer to bo out of 
reach . 
I find the shelter very little used for breeding. The 
Javas, however, invariably nest thei'c, and the Olive Finches 
used it for their first brood, but preferred the flight afterwards. 
I hope to increase my stock of foreign birds next 
year, when I shall have a somewhat larger aviary. But I 
still intend to keep only such birds as will breed. 
♦ 
Nuthatches. 
By Captain J. S. Reeve, F.Z.S. 
The following may interest " B.N." readers: As L was 
anxiou.i to procure a clutch each of Nuthatches' and Cole Tits' 
eggs I put up eighteen nesting blocks about February. Most 
were occupied by Blue Tits, but two were claimed by Great 
Tits, and one each bj' Nuthatches and Cole iTits. Several failed 
to find tenants! On examining all these boxes at the end. 
of June, I found one nestxul each of great and Blue Tits ap- 
