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Correspondence



the specimen. Later the Institute handsomely asknowledged the gift, as

before-mentioned. One never knows what is needed there for scientific

research and study. I know for instance that they are anxiously awaiting

the death of one of the Black Mamba’s which I procured for “ The Zoo ”.

Aviculturists therefore may possess what is to them a worthless dead bird,

but which is of interest to science.


H. Moore.



BREEDING OF CHINESE JAY THRUSHES


In the pages of Cage Birds, vol. lxii, No. 1595, 6th August, 1932, p. 69,

appeared a photo of a pair of Chinese Jay Thrushes ( Dryonastes chinensis)

(Scopoli) (old name Garrulax), dealers’ name, Canton Mocking Bird. This

photo was accompanied by a letter to the Editor under the nom de plume

“ Cardinal”, stating that the pair had laid two eggs, and that there was

every hope that the young would be reared. Among my queries during

July of this year was one from a correspondent asking me whether

this species had been bred in Great Britain. I replied to the effect that

I thought not, and after consulting Dr. Hopkinson’s valuable compilation,

I concluded that the writer’s success in rearing the young Jay Thrushes

was the first recorded instance. Thinking that it would be a pity if the

particulars were lost in obscurity, I corresponded with the querist”, a

Mr. H. Kenway, of Llandudno, who kindly supplied me with photos of

the old birds feeding the young after leaving the nest, and the particulars

regarding the occurrence are as under : 1932, first egg laid 21st June, and


another the following day. They hatched on 5th and 6th July. They left

the nest on the fifteenth day, and at three weeks were fighting each other so

dangerously that Mr. Kenway had to separate them and cage one up.

At four weeks to the day one young bird was heard trying its best to imitate

the song of the male, and eventually became very tame and a fine singer,

but at eighteen months lost the sight of one eye. The other young bird

was discovered dead at five weeks old. Mr. Kenway states that when the

young were in the nest the old birds were very fierce, the hen attacking

from above by striking the owner on the top of the head, and the cock always

going for the left eye, very nearly succeeding in wounding Mr. Kenwav on

one occasion. In addition to soft food the old birds were supplied with

plenty of “ gentles ”, cleaned in meal and given alive.


A pair of these birds some years ago, kept by someone in the South of

England known to a Mr. Frank Smith, Liverpool, and quoted by Butler in

Foreign Birds for Cage and Aviary , pt. i, p. 45, are said to have started

to breed, but broke up their eggs. The older aviculturists will remember

that this attractive species was at one time much more readily obtainable

than it is to-day.


In Calcutta, according to Finn, it was known under its Chinese name of

“ Peko ”, where it was prized as a songster and mimic. I think the first

living examples I ever saw belonged to Arthur Gill, M.R.C.V.S., of Bexley

Heath, some thirty-four years ago. Like many of their allied brethren they

are not hard to keep, and are attractive birds for a shrubbed aviary, moving

with extreme rapidity among boughs.


A. Silver.


[Other letters unavoidably held over, Ed.]



