The Rev. John E. G. Sweetnam—Prolific Zebra Finches



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clipped, as we thought such young birds never having had the slightest

chance of flying would not think of such a thing without a little practice.

But the big one took a run or two across the lawn just like a plane

getting up speed and sailed most beautifully into the air round and

round till it reached a height of 50 or 60 feet, then it sailed down again,

making a perfect landing, when we caught it and clipped a wing and

treated the others the same. It was extraordinary to see how

easily the power of flight comes to these big birds by instinct—no

practising of balance, they just flew perfectly at the very first attempt.


The photographs, which I took at various times this summer and

autumn, show the gulls at different stages of their growth which,

during the first few weeks, is prodigious ; in fact one can see them

grow from day to day. We unfortunately lost one of these birds : it

fell when young and, I think, injured its brain ; it was never a good

doer like the other two.



PROLIFIC ZEBRA FINCHES


By The Rev. John E. G. Sweetnam


The difficulty mentioned by Miss Barclay in the February number

is one which most aviculturists would gladly experience, even with

such plebeians of the aviary as Zebra Finches. In reply to her query ;

whilst the only certain way of preventing breeding is the separation

of the sexes, excessive enthusiasm in this direction will be reduced by

removing all nesting materials. This procedure presents a practical

difficulty in the case of small hardbills, such as Zebras, which use

nesting boxes as bedrooms and are apt to suffer from the effects of

cold in bad weather if prevented from doing so. As the annual moult

will suspend breeding operations for a time the birds themselves are

not likely to suffer from over-breeding.


Having kept these vivacious but rather stupid little finches for

some years I have reached certain conclusions about them which may

possibly be of interest to members, and in any case I would like to

know if others agree with me.


(1) Individual birds and pairs vary considerably in prolificness



