246



C. H. MacJclin—Breeding of the Royal Parrot Finch



tlieir good points, and at Nottingham they dropped to “ Commended ”,

for by this time they had worn off a lot of feathers round the beak and

broken some of their tail and flight feathers. This was in November,

and I then put them in an indoor aviary, where they were much quieter

than in the cage, in fact cage life definitely does not suit them. About

the end of February they started a good moult which they finished

early in April. On 15th April I put them outdoors in the same aviary

they had occupied the previous summer.


This aviary was designed for Waxbills with | in. mesh wire and

consists of a shelter shed with glass front 4J by 5 feet, 5J feet high in

front and 6J feet at the back ; matchboard sides, boarded floor, and

boarded and felted roof ; a covered flight with open front and boarded

floor 4| by 5 feet and an open flight 12 by 5 feet. The back of the

flight is an ivy-covered wall, and there are growing shrubs of box,

euonymus, and prunus ; the floor is partly turf and partly a sanded path.


The Parrot Finches had for company pairs of Cherry Finches, Cuban

Finches, Aurora Finches, Greater St. Helena Waxbills, Green Avadavats,

Lavender Finches, and a cock Amethyst-rumped Sunbird; they

were therefore the largest birds in the aviary, but they have always

been well behaved, taking very little notice of the other occupants

except to get the biggest share of the meal-worms, of which they are

very fond.


Within a week of being turned out they began to build a nest and

chose for the site a “ Hartz ” travelling cage hung up in the top

corner of the inside shelter farthest from the door to the flight. I had

put a wisp of hay in the cage, and they proceeded to fill it up with

grass stems, dead leaves, pieces of straw, and fibrous grass roots which

they found in the flight. On examining the nest after the young birds

had flown I found it was very compactly made; the entrance was in

the form of a sloping tunnel which went up about 3 inches to the nest

proper. They took about a fortnight to construct the nest and on

15th May I dared to investigate with my finger and could just reach

the nest cavity and feel that there were eggs. After this I left the

nest severely alone and did not even venture into the shelter. Both

birds sat, the hen chiefly at night and the cock during a good part of the

day. On 3rd June I heard faint squeaks coming from the nest, and



