216 Producing the Blue Budgerigar. 
ba?k ii (lay, ami fledged very quickly and was doing for him- 
self before he was live weeks old. 
In appearance he is smaller than a Greenfinch, and 
lacks the stripes on the breast of the young Greenfinch, but 
lias a yellow throat, and dun coloured waistcoat. The back 
and head are very like those of a hen Chaffinch, but the 
wings and tails are coloured more like the Greenfinch. The 
beak is neither Greenfinch nor Chaffinch, but is small edition 
of half-and-half, being shorter than that of the Chaffinch, and 
not so sharp and pointed ; and yet not so thick and big as 
that of the Greenfinch. 
Several eggs from the same hens have been hlled l)y 
the same Chaffinch, but none of them have hatched out, to 
my regret. As I have now quite a number of aviary bred 
Greenfinches, I hope to have some lack next year in the 
hybrid tlirection. 
Producing the Blue Budgerigar. 
By KEV. J. M. i'ATERSON. 
In the various bird shops where the continental l)i-ed 
Budgerigar is fretjuently to be found, I had occasion last year 
year to examine and handle a number of these pretty and 
interesting brids. In doing so I noticed that in some adult 
specimens the yellow undulations on the wings were some- 
times white (excuse the Hibernianism) and lliat the usual 
green, ailjacent to the yellow, had become blue. So I pur- 
chased such specimens, as I chanced across them, and this 
spring I had three such pairs to breetl from. One of these 
three pairs only has been really prolific, and they have had 
four nests, averaging five a nest. The young ones have in 
several instances blue feathers above the tail, and also round 
the vent, below the tail, as well as the white undulations on 
the wings instead of yellow. 
I venture to suggest that if these specimens, which 
have a lack of yellow in their colouring, were' bred in shaded 
aviaries, out of the direct sunlight, it would conduce towards 
the non-production of the yellow colour. My reason for tliink- 
ing so is perhaps a very slight one, but trusting to the 
clemency of our readers, I venture to give it. 
It is known that the direct rays of the sun are in- 
