256 The Marquess of Tavistock — 1934: Things that did come off


In the hope of increasing the supply of young birds for sale to meet

aviary expenses I had acquired a second pair of Pennant’s from a

gentleman who had done a certain amount of exhibiting. Both birds,

in consequence, were very steady. The cock, as sometimes happens

with this rather variable species, has a certain amount of blue on the

lower breast but the marking is more curious than ornamental. I

provided a grandfather-clock nest in the open flight and the hen soon

took to it, but was so slow in settling down to actual business that

I feared she' was going to prove a dud and perhaps an egg-eater.

However, after hanging fire for several weeks, she really did start to sit

at the very end of May, her husband, -though not normally quite

fearless, becoming bellicose and showing a disposition to attack me.

All went well and at the end of July four young birds—two cocks and

two hens—left the nest, being similarly coloured in the “ green phase 35

of young Pennant plumage with red on the cap, throat, flanks, and under

tail coverts. When one has had a few days to watch and compare them,

immature Pennant’s can be sexed with certainty, the heavier and more

powerful heads and beaks of the cocks being noticeable even at that

early age. The hen Pennant <got little help from her mate in the care of

the family once they were fledged, but she proved a devoted mother

and, though moulting herself, laboured on dutifully feeding her four

big children even when, had she been less unselfish, I am sure they

could perfectly well have fed themselves. According to my experience

the young of all the larger Broadtails, if they have the right food before

them, i.e. green food, soaked seed, and spray millet, will always start

to eat sooner than starve if deprived of parental aid at the time of

leaving the nest.


When the Pennant’s were feeding young they were plentifully

supplied with sow thistle, groundsel, and knapweed. These valuable

foods are at their best in the green seed stage, i.e. when flowering is just

over. At this time groundsel and sow thistle begin to show white fluff

on the heads and the thistle-like flower of the knapweed or “ hardheads ”

turns from pinkish purple to brown. Aviculturalists whose supply

of green food is not unlimited should learn to gather what they have

at the stage when its feeding value is greatest. Weeds, grass, and green

oats carelessly gathered too soon when still only in bud and in flower



