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Alfred Ezra—Successful Rearing of the Silky Starling



SUCCESSFUL REARING OF THE SILKY

STARLING


(Spodiopsar sericeus)


By Alfred Ezra, O.B.E.


I have had a pair of these attractive birds for several years in

one of my large aviaries with several other birds, and although they

have nested every year and hatched out young, these were never reared.

This spring they built a nest of straw, grass, leaves, twigs, and feathers,

in a nest-box that was hanging on the wall in the sleeping quarters

of the aviary about 9 feet from the floor. On 28th May four pale

blue eggs were seen, and by 7th June three young ones were hatched

out, the fourth egg being infertile.


During the incubation we noticed that the male bird was behaving

in a very strange way. He absolutely deserted his wife and paired

up with a hen Pied Grallina ( Grallina cyonoleuca). They were constantly

together and were even seen sitting together on a mud nest the Pied

Grallina had built. In the meantime the hen Starling looked after

her young, and fed them well on meal-worms, gentles, and sometimes

earthworms and caterpillars. Some of the latter were taken by the

hen from the Royal Starlings. Three young left the nest on 27th June,

and as I was afraid of them being attacked by their father, we removed

the hen with the young into a small aviary which they had all to

themselves. Here they were fully reared and are feeding themselves

without the aid of the mother. They are particularly robust birds-

and very strong on the wing. The successful rearing of these birds

I put down to the non-interference of the cock bird, who, being fully

occupied with the Grallina, had neglected the family. In so many cases

I have found the cock bird the real culprit, and when removed, young

have been reared successfully. I wonder what will happen when I put

the hen bird back in the same aviary as the cock bird, of course removing

the Pied Grallina first. I believe this is the first time this Starling

has been bred in captivity.


PS.—Since writing the above I have removed the Grallina from

the Starlings’ aviary and have put the hen Starling in with the cock

bird. They are very good friends again and look like nesting almost

at once.



