228



Correspondence



was about half tbe proper size, well feathered, but I saw it was not

a sound bird, it died in four days’ time. The others remained in the

nest another three days, and one morning I found them out, large

strong birds. The last two or three days they were in the nest I never

heard a sound from them. I have been told by a leading aviculturist

these Starlings often give up feeding their young ones and that it

is better to take away the cock after the young are hatched with some

varieties, but I did not do this as I found that the male bird was feeding

the young a good deal more than the hen. I gave them all the meal¬

worms they could eat and left some always in a rather deep tin. Of

course, they had other food of all sorts besides. I am sorry I cannot

give definite dates as it was very hard to know what these birds were

doing. During the winter I had them with another pair of Starlings

of the same sort, but they killed the other cock, and the other hen

would have shared the same fate had I not taken her away. The

Editor tells me that Purple-headed Starlings were bred in the Zoo in

1871 and 1874, but I think this was before the days when the Avicultural

Society’s Medal was awarded. I possess one Medal which was awarded

to my father for breeding the Bed-vented Blue-bonnet Parrakeet,

and should much like to win another !


I shall be pleased to answer any questions I can as to rearing

these Starlings.


Windsor D. Parker.


[In his Records of Birds Bred in Captivity , Dr. Hopkinson writes of

Lamprocolius purpureus : “ Buss says they were bred at the London

Zoo, and Wiener, that young were hatched there in 1871 and 1874,

but Butler says that he can find no record of this in the Zoo Proceedings.

Neunzig also makes no mention of breeding : this must therefore be

a very doubtful record.”


In the Zoological Society’s List of Animals published in 1883 there

is a record of a young bird of this species hatched in the Gardens on

5th August, 1871, and a second hatched 17th August, 1874. A search

through the volumes of the Daily Occurrences reveals the fact that the

one hatched in 1871 died at nine days old, but the other, hatched in

1874, lived for nearly eleven years.— Ed.]



