270 Dr. Evelyn Sprawson—The Breeding of Barnard's Parrakeet


that so large a nest has not been bred in an aviary in this country

before, though we know that about twenty years ago a similar nest

was recorded as obtained from birds at complete liberty. Apart from

the above, it has been an unusual year ; for the past three years each

of two pairs of Manycolours has reared a family, though sometimes

a small one, but this year neither of two pairs even laid an egg. Why ?

We don’t know. They seemed to want each other’s wives, for though

they were some 35 feet from each other, with intervening aviaries, they

could both see and hear each other, so we changed them over, and even

then they weren’t happy.


Kose-breasted Grosbeaks (Z. ludovici) bred this year, hatching their

total of three eggs and rearing two, one of each sex. These are nice

birds; we could sex them seven days after hatching by the pink under-

wing colouring of the male. To our surprise both the young were out

of the nest on the tenth day, and did not return to it. Unfortunately we

have recently lost the young male, but the young hen seems to be larger

than either of her parents.


The Chinese Black-tailed Hawfinch (Eophona melanura) also

nested and laid three eggs ; these were very pretty and like large

editions of the egg of our common Bullfinch, only rather greener, but

they are evidently subject to considerable range of variation, as I see

that in 1916 the late Mr. Shore-Baily described some in his aviaries

as being almost exact replicas in colour and markings of our Yellow-

hammers. All three hatched, and we were in great hopes, as we think

this Hawfinch has not been bred in an aviary in England before, though

the larger Japanese Hawfinch has. However, we were disappointed,

for on the eighth day the parents removed and killed the rapidly

growing young, and though we thought they were going to nest again

they did not do so. They seem rather quarrelsome with each other

when nesting, and if the male came anywhere near the nest, as he

frequently did, when the hen was sitting she would leave her nest and

they would appear to be quarreling and scolding each other violently.

The male, in spite of his size, seemed to be rather henpecked.


Satyr Tragopans (one pair) laid nine eggs; seven of these were fertile

but four failed to hatch ; of the three which hatched one (we think)

over-ate himself with gentles, one was overlain by his foster-mother*



