106



Gerald de Pass—Breeding of Bullfinches



of her nest, and duly laid four eggs and then sat her full time.

Owing, I think, to the other cock always chasing her husband about

(he was an older bird), the eggs proved unfertile. This was the end

of my first year’s efforts.


During the following winter I lost the old cock and his

hen, which left me with only the other pair. Early in the

following May I saw the hen was commencing to carry bits of grass,

etc., about, so I broke up some thin sticks for her, and also got

some of the bundles of nesting material sold for Canaries, and

some hay and feathers, and gave them to her. She very soon built

a beautiful nest in a box-tree and then laid three eggs. She sat

beautifully, and whilst she was sitting the cock fed her on the nest

and I used to watch him hovering and catching what, I presume,

must have been flies for her. On the thirteenth day I put a few

live mealworms, some live ants’ eggs and soft food into the aviary,

and had to curb my impatience and wait, and try and catch the

hen off the nest. However, I am nearly certain that the hen never

leaves the nest for the first 48 hours or so.- Mr. Bullie appears to

eat nearly the whole day, and then regurgitates the food to

Mrs. Bullie, who, in her turn, feeds the young ones. Bullies are

hatched completely naked, and I imagine they must require a lot

of heat to keep them alive, and this, I think, is the reason why

the hen Bullie does not leave the nest to commence with. The nest

is kept most beautifully clean all the time. The young ones leave

the nest in about 18 to 20 days and at first seem unable to fly

much and, in my case, hid in the grass. I used to hide and watch,

and the cock would call, and the young would come out of the grass

to be fed. The parents continue to feed them for about 14 days,

but before the 14 days are up the hen commences to build another

nest, and the cock does all the feeding. The first nest only produced

one young one, and the second only two. The young are

exactly like the hen, until they have moulted out in the autumn.

I am sorry to say I lost all but one young one in the moult. This

was a cock, but he died in a fit during the next spring, and before

his hen had commenced to build. I find aviary-bred Bullies are

smaller than the wild ones, and al^o much more difficult to get



