An AttcDipt to Breed Bluc-Jruiilcd Aiiiaco)is. 165 
though 1 daily i^eered into the interior of the nest-ban el. One 
day in late July my " satisfied content " merged in pleasurable 
excitement, for had 1 not seen the hrst egg of a Blue irontea 
Amazon in a nest-barrel in an English aviary ! 
Alas ! how short was to be my satisfaction and excite 
ment. The egg was not in incubation, mostly one or other ox 
the birds stood over it; at the end of the next day the egg was 
still solitary. The following morning, when I went in lo feed 
them, the hen came to my hand, fed, and disported about the 
aviary and was apparently in the pink of condition; no dropped 
wings or lethargy, but as alert and vivacious as one could wish 
but the egg was still solitary. After lunch 1 again went inti. 
the aviary and 1 could only see one bird ; tlie weather was dull 
but warm, and I could only just make out the hen crouched u 
the bottom of the nest barrel; tame as they were 1 hesitated to 
put my hand into it, but watched closely and could detect no 
movement ; a horrid fear began to possess me. 1 got a short piece 
of stick and touched her w'ith same, and as there was no apparent 
movement when 1 touched her with the stick, 1 took any risk 
there might be and plunged my hand into the barrel an.l 
brought her (a cold stiff corpse) out. In the bottom of the 
barrel was a crushed egg and in her body just visible was an 
unpassed egg — thus ended my first attempt at breeding the 
Blue-fronted Amazon. 
I shall hope to make another attempt next season if 1 
am able to procure another hen bird. 
As there does not appear to be any published account of 
outward sexual distinctions 1 will point out such as 1 have 
noted. 
In the first place my two birds, though equally brilliant, 
were quite distinct as to the extent of the respective colour 
areas; in fact the hen was the most brilliant of the two. How- 
ever, true this was of my pair, it is of no value as a sex distinc 
tion, for, as anyone who has examined say a dozen certain 
males in the mass knows, they vary so in this respect as to make 
it of no value as a distinction between the sexes, for some hav.^ 
yellow as the predominating colour of the top of head and sides 
of face, with only a small frontal patch of blue; in others the 
