172 Nesting Notes of the Season. 
as to which we veil our ignorance by the use of high-sounding 
nomenclature — as when we use such a convenient but far from 
satisfactory term as " orthogenesis." 
To be continued. 
<^M^ 
Nesting Notes of the Season. 
By Wesley T. Page, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 
Nothing out of the way has been done up to the present 
but as there are one or two points of interest to myself they may 
be equally so to others. 
There are one or two qualifying factors I should mention, 
viz. : since live-food became so difficult and costly to procure 
it has ceased to be part of my aviary Bill of Fare; except for 
such insects as the birds capture in the aviary, or which I may' 
notice on garden plants, capture, and throw into the aviary 
It may be helpful if I state the menu of my large aviarv, which 
contains a varied series of Passerine birds, and four species of 
Columbidac. 
Menu : Insectile mixture, milk-sop, fruit, seed ^^canary, 
millet, hemp, and wild seeds). No addition whatever has been 
made during the breeding' season, save that greenfood supplies 
have been more liberally and more frequently supplied. 
Another fact is that I have been so occupied with many 
things that I have been able to give my birds this season the 
merest feeding attendance ; with an occasional odd half-hour for 
observation, and these not by any means daily ones ! 
The first youngster to appear was a common Barbary 
Turtle-Dove (Turtur risorius). An episode of no inte'^est and 
unworthy of mention, save for one fact connected with its 
parents. In late summer, 1919, a friend asked me if I would 
give a home in the aviary to a pair of this species, stating that 
though they nested regularly the eggs were all infertile, as the 
cock bird was too old to be of any further use for breeding 
They came, and one clutch of eggs were laid and incubated in 
1919, but both eggs were infertile. Thus we may 
deduce that natural and roomy quarters have imparted 
