Parrot-F inches . 
355 
I can adduce no reason, but. do not think the numerou;; 
deaths are due entirely to ci'owdiiig, etc., during the voyage, 
for the .same conditions surround many other birds without the 
same disastrous death-rate. The birds, when first imported, 
seem to lind some difficulty in husking their seed, and if Faddy 
Rice is really a necessity to them during the first few weeks 
of acclimatisation, the hardness of the seed might account for 
their inalnlity to make full use of it. 
I have tried the following foods, with results which 
are not encouraging— Canary, White and Indian Millet of course 
—Paddy Rice, Oats' and Groats Mealworms, Gentles, Greenfly, 
and Flowering Grass. Very little but Paddy Rice and Millet 
was looked at. I have scalded the S2)ray millet and also the 
Faddj- Rice and found they would not touch it in this 
condition, whereas newly imported and young waxbills like 
their Millet so treated. My post mortem examinations do not 
tally with those reported in the papers. 
In most instances there was no vis-ible cause of death; 
in two there was pericarditis, and in one pneumonia. With 
regard to breeding operations, I have not mucli to record, 
Mr. Temple had a very fine pair for two or three 
years, which finally built a nest in a fsquare box, with a ►small 
circular opening— four or five eggs were laid, they were white 
like the common Parrot -Finch's. Two young were hatched 
out, which only lived for a day or two. 
In my aviaries this year a nest was built in a cigar- 
box; it was moi'e or less spherical with a circular hole at the 
front. Only two eggs were laid and one chick hatched on the 
13th day. This was fed for two days, and then died, I think, 
owing to the interference of the odd cock. 
The " love dance " is peculiar— the cock sidles up 
to the hen, twittering the while, when sufficiently near he 
faces her and the tail is then bent sharply from side to side, 
several times, after which pairing takes place. 
The Pin-tailed Parrot-Finch, as also the "Common," 
and Three-coloured species, are quite able to winter in a 
cold aviary if there is reasonable shelter— for roosting in at 
night. 
This species J find to be rather wild, and also lethargic, 
they si', quietly for hours on a perch— but when one enters 
