76 E. J. Boosey—Breeding Results at Keston Foreign Bird Farm , 1934


ordinary young ones and one white one, which has turned out to be

a cock.


Ruficaudas and Bichenos reared a number of young ones and

Long-tailed Grass Finches did very well during the latter part of the

season ; this being no doubt due to the fact that earlier on we found

that we had got some of the sexes wrong, which unfortunately is only

too easy to do with this otherwise delightful little finch. Every now

and again one comes across a pair in which the cock’s black bib is

particularly large, and the hen’s particularly small, and then, of course,,

the distinction is obvious. But in the vast majority of cocks and hens

the difference in the size of their bibs is so infinitesimal as to be practically

useless for sexing purposes.


One pair of Red-headed Parrot Finches did excellently, producing

nine young ones in two nests. Another pair reared two and a third

always deserted their eggs. Even so, however, it was satisfactory

to have started the season with six and ended up with twenty-one

(four under Bengalese). Most of these, of course, we are keeping,

so that next year we should have a nice breeding stock of them. Once

again it is interesting to note that the hen who did so well was

one bred by us last year, and the one that deserted her eggs was an

imported bird.


The Red-headed Parrot Finch is a delightful little bird, its chief

characteristics being its tremendous energy and tit-like vivacity, SO'

much so that unless one is careful they are a little inclined to knock

their heads against the wire roof of their aviary. They are very

willing indeed to go to nest, but even more willing to desert their eggs-

unless allowed real privacy. It has always seemed to us that the diffi¬

culty of sexing them has been considerably exaggerated. True, this

is a difficult matter if one happens to have a rather bright hen and a

rather dull cock, but, generally speaking, the cock’s red mask is un¬

mistakably brighter than his wife’s ; also the cocks continually utter

their little trilling song, while hens have no particular song.


Gouldians did badly, the fourteen or so young ones that were reared

being very good ones, but quite a number of pairs failed to get beyond

laying numerous eggs, mostly unfertile, before they had to have their

nest-boxes removed for the winter. Of all finches, Gouldians are the



