330



Correspondence



May and found two lovely yellow young ones. Both were reared, but I did

not know who the parents were. The hen I was pretty sure of, and she was

one of the wild-caught lutinos, but as none of the others showed any signs

of a collar it was not easy to find the cock bird. After all the birds in this

aviary moulted in August I was surprised to find three lovely cock birds

with collars and in perfect male plumage. All the three cocks were yellow-

breds reared here. This proves that these Parrakeets breed before they assume

the adult plumage. The two young ones are a lovely yellow and both are

strong and healthy birds. As I have a good many pairs of yellow-bred ones

now I hope to get a good number of lutinos next year. Alfred Ezra.



PAINTED FINCHES BY THE DOZEN


When in Australia last winter, I saw a few Painted Finches (Emblema

picta) in various aviaries from Adelaide eastward, and learnt that in the

previous season quite a large number (one report said sixteen dozen) had been

caught somewhere in North Queensland by one catcher. At Brisbane I met

Mr. N. V. Whitehouse and saw his aviaries, in which were at least a dozen

of these very rare birds. He knew that a great many had been caught,

but could not vouch for the sixteen dozen. When the first were offered him,

the price asked was preposterous, but eventually he was able to get some

at a more reasonable, but still high price. None had been seen for many

years and many of the dealers did not even know the birds. Mr. Whitehouse

has since sent me more details, and these should interest, especially now

that one example at least, a male for Mr. Ezra, has reached England.


He writes to tell me that four of his pairs went to nest the spring after

he got them (i.e. about August or September, 1934), and that eggs were

hatched, but no young reared ; two of the pairs had built again when he

wrote (October, 1934) and were sitting well. He was fortunate enough to

locate the man who caught them and has sent me a letter from him, the

essential parts of which are :—■


“. . . I have been all over the country they inhabit, and you will only see

them in the Spinifex country right in the heart of the Ranges and gorges.

They mostly live on Spinifex seed, as that is the only thing that grows in

the Ranges. They mostly go in pairs, and never more than five or six

together. They like to water in the rock-holes, where they can hop from

rock to rock to the water. They never go out of the Spinifex country.

They breed at different times of the year, mostly after the wet season. They

always nest in a bunch of Spinifex or Porcupine, a similar grass. You will

find if you put rocks in your aviary for them to perch on in the day, it will

suit them, and plenty of clean sand or grit, as they are always on the ground

most of the day in the bush picking about. I think the Panicum seed is

the best for them.”


Spinifex is a coarse stringy grass which grows in the very arid parts and

the “ panicum ” is a very small millet largely used for birds in Australia, and

I think grown there.


£5 a pair, or £5 a head was what the dealers were asking, and in many

cases getting, for the birds had not been seen for years, and never before

in more than two’s and three’s. Three pairs were bought to go to Germany,

but whether they arrived or not I do not know, but I have seen no mention

of such an arrival in any of the German Fancy papers I have seen.


E. Hopkinson.



