Correspondence



195



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.


BRITISH BIRD BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION


It may interest you to know that the following records have reached

me from members of the British Bird Breeders’ Association :—


British birds nesting—with eggs : Siskins, Linnets, Redpoles, Goldfinches,

Bullfinches, Starlings.


British birds with young hatched : Thrush (Song), Chaffinches, Green¬

finches, Linnets, Blackbirds, Bullfinches.


The recent spell of cold weather (mid-May) has checked birds which were

nest-making, but does not seem to have affected those which had commenced

incubating.


The earliest record of Goldfinches came from Dundee.


Great interest is being taken in breeding our native birds this year, and

this newly formed association has now over 500 members.


Hylton Blythe.



FEEDING THE GREY PARROT


Will any member of the Avicultural Society please advise me ?


I feed my Grey Parrot (cet. 25) on boiled maize in the morning and in

the afternoon on the mixture advised by Lord Tavistock in Aviculture and

fresh and cooked fruit.


Besides this she gets pieces of milk pudding, suet pudding, cake, bread

and jam. Very often a rusk soaked in sweet tea. She is very fond of this.


She seems quite healthy but occasionally T have noticed she is very short

of breath and breathes heavily and sometimes she will fall off her perch. This

falling off her perch is usually in the evening after she has been covered up ;

except for being alarmed, she seems well.


I doubt if the maize is good for her, though she seems fond of it.


Are these “ oddments ”, pudding, etc., bad for her ? Should maize be

cut out altogether ? Besides Lord Tavistock’s mixture and fruit is there

anything else one can give without doing harm ?


Hamish Nicol.



RECORDS OF BIRDS BRED IN CAPTIVITY


Towards the improvement of these I am seeking the assistance of our

members and would be very grateful if those who have bred rare birds and

recorded the events would do so again in our pages, but with the following

details added, which could probably be best given as answers to the following

questions.


(1) How many young birds fledged ?


(2) How many left the nest (and date ?)


(3) How many of these lived through the moult ?


(4) How many were alive at the end of the year ?


(5) How many reached a year old ?



