Itfciu/^ts at iirccdiiig Albinos. 
71 
inspired by more emotional iii.^iitim^ales and skylarks, -A rat 
indeed ! 
In lyiO 1 boui^lit a wlnlc hen sparrow, haxin.i; three brown 
wing-feathers and normal eyes, bnt could (jbtain no cock. 
This hen nested in a garden aviary, but did not lay. The 
following" winter she escaped and brought u]) a family in the 
neighbourhood during the summer of 1917. luirly in 191K she 
was recaptured, and about the same time 1 purchased a cock 
witli a partly white head and neck. 1 i)laoed them in my largest 
aviary (40ft. x 20ft. x Joft. hi.gh) where they built in the roof 
of the shelter. 
Having read that British birds are unreliable parents in 
captivity — a statement which appears doubtful in the case of 
large natural aviaries — I removed the eggs to a wild sparrow's 
nest in a high holly hedge. Two hatched and were murdered 
by rats at the age of ten days, one day before they were to have 
been removed. Meanwhile the parents had nested again, and 
this time the eggs were placed in a Great Tit's nest in a bird-ljox 
very high up in an oak-tree. Again two hatched and flourished, 
and at ten days were handed over to a canary. 
The complete change of diet did not visibly check their 
growth, but they were rather slow^ in leaving the nest. Their 
plumage was quite normal, as was to be expected. 
The same sunmier I bought a beautiful little Cinnamon 
hen (ioldfinch, and mated her to a normal cock. (An almost 
pure wliite cock was unfortunately obtained a few weeks too 
late). 
She built in a large aviary rather crowded with canaries, 
and laid five eggs. One was left, together w'ith three addled 
canary eggs, and the others were removed to a Wren's nest in a 
bird-l)ox. 
All were hatched, and after four days, when I saw she was 
feechng her youngsters well, I retm-ned the others from the 
wren's nest. They could not have stayed much longer in any 
case, as the wren gave them insects larger than they could 
comfortably swallow; moreover Ton jours /^crdrix does not 
commend itself to young tinches. 
The young Goldfinches were reared, and the devotion of 
