120 
Corre.tponclencr. 
At last, after losing several other birds, the Robin was killed, finally 
disposing of the dealer's theory. I was now beginning to despair of finding 
the culprit, as though I had a boy keeping watch throughout the day, he 
could discover nothing. At length one Sunday, as I was watching I saw the 
whole drama enacted before my eyes. The Hangnest, which up till then had 
been on its very best behaviour, suddenly swooped down from a perch, 
exactly like a hawk, on to a Crossbill that was feeding on the ground below 
it, seized the unfortunate bird with its claws and hammered viciously at its 
head. Before I could interefere the Crossbill was practically dead, so I put 
it out of its misery, left it there, and went out to await developments. As 
soon as I had left the aviary the Hangnest swooped down again, seized the 
dead bird and hammered it on the head as before ; after doing this for a 
few minutes it flew off with the bird to a perch and then proceeded to 
devour it, tearingf at it exactly like a Shrike or other predaceous bird, and 
attacking, so far as I could see, chiefly the head and abdomen. Needless to 
say that after this I kept the bird apart from the rest and caged it by itselfi 
when it made a very delightful pet. It is still very fond of meat of any 
kind, but much prefers a bird or even a mouse to anything else. 
Another similar case was that of a Virginian Cardinal, which suddenly 
developed the habit of killing birds and of completely devouring their heads, 
though in this case the rest of the body was rarely toiiched. Luckily on this 
occasion I discovered the culprit before very much damage had been done. 
I should like to know if any other members have had similar 
experiences. G. E. RATTIGAN. 
[No matter how tame they may be, the majority of the Hangnestsare 
dangerous company for other birds, even for species miicli larger than them- 
selves. I know of one instance in which an Imperial Nicobar Pigeon was 
badly mauled by a Hangnest, and its life only saved by its owner's interfer- 
ence. A close watch should be ke(it on all species of Hangnests till their 
demeanour is ascertained, no nritter what company they are in. — Ei).] 
Cross Mating of Blue-Mountain Lorikeets and Violet-neclced Lory. 
Sir, — It may be of interest to our members to hear of the nesting of a Violet- 
necked Lory and Blue Mountain Lorikeet, so far as it has gone, which how- 
ever, you will say is not very far at present. Some weeks ago when they 
began to evince an unwonted interest in cocoa-nut husks (the particular 
property of the Budgerigars), I saw they meant business. I fitted up two 
little oj'ster barrels, thinking they would be the very thing, and placed them 
in diiferent positions in the aviary ; but they would have none of them, and 
continued to spend their time, when not engaged in bullying the other occu- 
pants, in trying to get in one particular husk, the aperture of which was, 
of course too small for them. Lories do not seem to have the power of 
"whittling" like others of the parrot tribe. I might have cut away the 
opening for their accommodation, but I recognized the fact, that if thej^ 
managed to get in they could not possibly turn round, and yet they would 
not even look at the nice little barrels provided for them. Then the hapi)y 
thought occurred to me so saw off the end of then- beloved cocoa-nut husk, 
widen the opening so that I could just get my hand in, fasten it on the end 
of the barrel, and hang it in exactly the same position among the branches 
