Breeding Successfully in a Cage



143



of his time denuding the lady of the feathers on her head and neck,

until she eventually became a veritable rag-bag. However, in due

course, eggs arrived in the Hartz cage, but only a very poor attempt

was made to build a nest, the hen apparently thinking that the felt

lining was quite sufficient for her needs.


She commenced sitting in earnest on the 24th March, but I was not

aware of the number of eggs, if any, as the Hartz cage was a permanent

fixture and previous experiences with foreign bird breeding had

taught me that curiosity often killed ones hopes. On the 8th April

the familiar squeaks of young birds could be heard. Then the next

pitfall appeared in the shape of suitable food for them to rear the

youngsters. No doubt it will be remembered that at this time the

weather was extremely cold and no greenstuff was procurable, so I had

to fall back upon occasional pieces of watercress, which, by the way,

was also very scarce at that time. I also gave the parents a pot of

insectivorous food as used for the Softbills, together with a few meal¬

worms of which they were extremely fond. Of course they also had

the usual foreign bird seed mixture. All appeared to be going well,

with the hen feeding regularly and the cries of the babies daily getting

stronger, until the 15th April when youngster No. 1 was found dead

at the bottom of the cage. This one was followed on the 19th with

youngster No. 2.


My feelings were now somewhat mixed as I took down the nest

and thoroughly washed the Hartz cage, and the only consolation I could

get from this failure was from the fact that the weather was so cold

and miserable that I could not have blamed a human being forsaking

his or her young, let alone a St. Helena Seed-eater.


On the 5th May the hen again commenced to sit, and on the 17th

the cries of young birds were again heard. It will be noticed that,

whereas the eggs took fifteen days to hatch in the first instance, at the

second attempt they actually hatched in twelve and a half days

according to my records, although, of course, not being able to examine

the nest daily, I may be half a day or so out in my calculations.


All went well with this nest until the 23rd May, when one youngster

was found dead on the cage bottom, and my hopes again began to

sink. However, knowing there to be still young in the nest, I succeeded



