Ittcinpts ai Breeding Albinos. 
73 
;uk1 trouble I could not bring it into anytliin.i;' like breeding 
condition. 
1 bought back the old vsliite hen Sparrow and her son, 
which liad not bred with their new owner; and secured also i 
ciiniamon hen with pink eyes; and a pure wdiite hen. 
All these sparrows settled down to business with alacrity. 
The cock shared domestic duties with his mother exclusively, 
but the other two hens also reared young. 
When the sparrow broods were in full cry the chaffinches 
started to nest in perfunctory manner, but soon stopped. 1 
have no doubt they did not get enough natural food in competi- 
tion with the sparrows. Maggots they refused, mealworms 
were too expensive to give to such a hungry throng, and my 
chief resource was the caterpillar, which strips the oak trees in 
Alay and June. if the chaffinches had had an aviary to them- 
selves no doubt they would have bred. 
The sparrows nested twice and produced nine young ones, 
many eggs being infertile. ( )nly one had an appreciable amount 
of white markings, a tail feather or two, and a number of small 
white feathers, which were only conspicuous when it flew. 
This was ])roduced by the cinamon hen. There were sliglit 
traces of white on another from the old hen's nest. 
No more could be expected in tliis- generation. 1 had 
written to Professor Bateson, tlie author of the classical book 
on Mendelism, to ask whether he thought it possible to produce 
new varieties of common British birds, and his reply, though 
kind, was ])essimistic. 
'J'he P^ditor of Cage liirds was also so good as to send me 
some evidence on the subject, all negative. 
IJuring the summer 1 also bred some British liybrids in 
other aviaries — Greenfinch x Siskin and Goklfinch x Greenfincli. 
In September, having sold my cottage, I removed from 
from Liphook to a spot on Chichester Harbour. The rats had 
already re-appeared, so I was glad to remove the aviaries. 
However, conditions on the new site proved to be far worse, 
and my new. aviary was promptly raided, yet it was carpetted all 
over with half-inch netting: but they dug and gnawed in e\ ery 
direction, and 1 could not, after their entrv, find the hole. 
