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OcTOIiKR, 192I. 
BIRD NOTES: 
THE 
JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB 
Successful Nesting of Grenadier Weavers 
( Pyromelana oryx). 
Bv W. Shore Bailv. 
My Grenadier \Vea\-ers have had quite a successful season, 
havini;- nested twice and fully reared four young birds. 
This has been the first season this species has appeared 
in the Boyers House aviaries, and it is gratifying that their 
dc'but has been so successful. As my readers know I have bred 
quite a few species of weavers, but for some reason or another 
I have never kept the Grenadier till this year. 
Quite early in April I lost my first hen from egg-binding, 
so the start was not very auspicious ; however, I was lucky in 
getting another from one of our members. Within a few 
days of her arrival she accepted the attentions of the male, and 
he promptly built her a rather neat nest in a spruce fir. In 
this the hen laid two blue eggs, larger but not so glossy as 
those of the Orange Weaver. These duly hatched out, after 
twelve days' incubation, and the young remained in the nest 
for sixteen days, a rather long period. Whilst feeding her 
young the hen got very tame, and would take mealworms from 
the table within a foot of me. These were supplied to her 
every few hours, and she carried them into the nest, sometimes 
two or three at a time. 
The cock took no part in the rearing of his family, except 
to keep other birds away from his nest. He spent most of his 
time nest-building, and wove many nests, all of the same type, 
purse-shaped with the opening at the front in the upper half. 
T saw it stated in B.N. in an account of the breeding of this 
species that the cock enlarged the opening to allow of the egress 
of the young birds ; but this was not so here, as the opening was 
amply big enough. In fact the nest remained quite perfect 
long after the yorng had left it. 
