18



Breeding Besults at the Keston Foreign Bird Farm



young are considerably larger than imported cage-bred stock from

Japan.


Gouldians, as usual, began to manifest a belated desire to breed

at the end of the summer and it is therefore difficult at the time of

writing to say exactly how many will be finally reared. Quite a number,

however, are already fledged and there are more in the nests.


A young hen bred last season moulted out with a blue streak down

the centre of the lilac breast patch and the yellow replaced by greenish

yellow. She is not now particularly beautiful to look at but our excite¬

ment can be imagined when the blue streak appeared and we had

visions of breeding a blue Gouldian Finch ! It would have been

interesting to see how the colours would have developed had the bird

been a cock.


The Cherry Finches settled down to domestic matters early in

the summer and although we have very few pairs quite a nice lot

of young were reared, all of which we are keeping as we want to increase

our stock and they are difficult to obtain.


Masked and Bichenos did well but both are rather difficult to suit

with nesting sites and they must be left severely alone in a secluded

corner. The former are rather late starters and it is very often difficult

to get in more than one nest. One pair reared five. The maximum

young we had in any one nest of Bichenos was three. Other species

bred here this season are Silverbills, Fire Finches (at liberty), Diamond

Doves (prolific but very bad parents), and about 2,500 Budgerigars in

all the various colours. We also got a Zebra Finch X Long-tailed

Grass Finch hybrid and though we think this cross must have been

done before we cannot find any mention of it anywhere. 1 Before they

moult they are not unlike young Long-tails with a rather small bib,

but the Zebra Finch penny-trumpet voice. This year we decided to

try a few Waxbills at liberty—Fire Finches, Cordon Bleus, Orange¬

cheeked Waxbills, and Golden-breasted Waxbills—all stayed well

and were successfully caught up again at the end of October, with the

exception of the Golden-breasts, which strayed shortly after being

let out. The Fire Finches were found to have bred in the garden and

several youngsters were caught up with the parents and will be liberated

1 [Bred by Rice in 1911 (Hopkinson’s Records). —Ed.]



