16



Correspondence



The young left the nest when they were sixteen days old. They were

light brown on the back, light blue on the chest, the red patches of the cock

bird being indistinguishable.


Immediately the young had flown, the hen went to nest again, leaving

the cock bird to look after the family. This he did by filLing his crop with

food and feeding two or three at a time, before obtaining more.


I first observed the young ones on the 14th May, 1931. I attribute my

success to feeding large quantities of very small gentles together with egg

and biscuit, cake, fruit, and the usual seeds. One food that seems essential

is the gentles.


A. E. Henley.


66 Victoria Street,


Auckland.



PARROT FINCHES


I was most fortunate, some time ago, in securing a true pair of Parrot

Finches.


They built in a ti-tree bush, a small cup-shaped nest with, at the side, a

little tunnel through which the birds entered.


Three eggs were laid and two young hatched, but only one left the nest

on the 18th May, 1931. The young one grew rapidly and is now bigger than

its parents. It is green all over except for a little red patch on the rump

and a suspicion of pink on the head. On each side of the beak where the skin

joins at the base are two vivid light blue spots. As the bird became older

these spots disappeared and I can only conclude that they are of some use

to the parents when feeding the young in the dark interior of the nest.


The birds were fed upon hulled oats, plenty of lettuce, the usual range of

seeds for small Finches, and egg and biscuit mixed with Cod Liver Oil Cage

Bird Food.


The young one is now as quick and active as its parents.


A. E. Henley.



POPE CARDINALS


In June, 1930, I was fortunate in acquiring three Pope Cardinals but it

was rather difficult to determine their sexes.


They were safely acclimatized and put out into the aviary in the spring,

1930. During September, two of the Cardinals were observed placing straws

in different positions, then taking them down again and transferring them to

other places. A little heavier nesting material, much of it composed of fine

twigs of ti-tree was put in their enclosure. The birds immediately seized

upon this and built a little platform in some ti-tree bushes in an exposed

position where sun and rain fell upon the nest. The nest was untidy, not

firmly knitted together and the sides were not high, more like the untidy

nest of a Dove.


Two green eggs were laid, spotted with faint brown. After about eighteen

days they hatched, but in a few days’ time, only one bird remained. This



