266 Mrs. Dewar Murray—Breeding the Blue Sugar-Bird


Finch is the usual bottle-shaped structure of grasses, but it will also

build in any suitable box or basket. In Dr. Hopkinson’s Records he

writes of this species : “ Easily bred, often many broods. When these

birds were commonly imported it was bred so often that success was

usually considered not worth reporting.”


D. S-S.



BREEDING THE BLUE SUGAR-BIRD


DACNIS CAT AN A


By Mrs. Dewar Murray


In 1931 my hen Blue Sugar-bird laid several eggs, mostly dropped

on the ground. Then she made a nest in some hay placed against the

aviary wall, lining it with wool and moss. The first egg was laid on

17th May and the second on the 19th. She sat her full time, but both

eggs were infertile. In 1932 the pair started looking for a nesting site

in the same place but would not build, so we made a small depression

in the hay and in this she started to lay. The first egg arrived on

16th June, the second being laid two days later. The hen sat steadily

until the 28th, when a young bird was hatched. Other eggs were fertile

but addled. Both cock and hen fed the chick for two weeks on bread

and milk, Mellin’s food and honey and fruit, and above all mealworms,

which the hen took from my hand while on the nest and after chewing,

fed to her offspring.


After this the two birds tried to kill the baby, so I had to feed it by

hand—a performance which I successfully accomplished. It is now very

lively and, of course, feeds itself quite well.


The parents were hand-reared in Trinidad, and brought home by me,,

and are therefore perfectly tame. I think they will have more nests

and, I hope, do better next time. I should like to know if anyone else

has bred this species.



