106 Correspondence



parents, which by then had laid a second clutch and were

sitting again, but this attempt was a failure. The nest was

a most unrail-like < structure, almost suggesting a thrush’s,

built right on the top of a bush close to the overhead wire

of the aviary. The birds bred again the next year and are

still doing so. Add: 679, 2. African Black Rail


(Limnocorax niger). Bred by Sich in 1930 and the young

reared. A.M., 1930, 270 ; 1931, 57 (Medal),

p. 144. 680. Cayenne Rail. Add: Shore Baily bred them in


England in 1926 ; see A.M., 1926, 305.

p. 144. 682. Northern Weka Rail. The specific name should

he “ australis ” and the date in line 1, 1900 (not 1890).

p. 145. Add: American Coot (Fulica americana). Have been

bred at the New York Zoo teste Crandall’s 1927 List



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.


REARING GREAT BUSTARDS IN SPAIN


In 1931 I persuaded a friend to rear some Great Bustards by hand, of

which the Zoo had one pair. In 1932 we tried the experiment, successfully,

of rearing them under hens. I enclose two photographs.


They are fed as little fellows on insects, chopped fruit (they like tomato

best), and bread-crumbs, and as they advance in age they get tomato, bread,

green food, grapes, and rabbit liver, or an occasional mouse chopped and

mixed up, but they like large pieces. They are simple enough to cater for

as the diet can be less expensive, fruit being replaced by green peas (soaked

hard ones will do), but, as you know, they are a funny mixture of being over¬

tame yet very nervous of any strange effect such as bright colours that they

are not accustomed to, or a dog passing that they don’t know, or a sound

that is new to them. Their bones are so light and brittle that leg or wing

accidents are liable when frightened. Their feathers, too, are soft and one

wonders at their once being indigenous to as far north as, I believe, the

Lothians. Sometimes a bird takes a dislike to another one and is apt to

bully it; but most birds are like that.


J. C. Laidlay.



HATCHING BLUE BIRDS BY FOSTER PARENTS


I have, owing to my absence from home, only just seen the suggestion

put forward by our member, Mr. A. Lewis, in our Magazine for November,

1932, respecting my failure in rearing Blue Birds under foster parents.


Presumably Mr. Lewis failed to observe the article written to the fancy

press some short time ago by Dr. M. Amsler who has had considerable

experience in the rearing of Blue Birds under foster parents.



