118



Rev. J. R. Lowe—Early Notes



have been indications in the Avicultural Magazine that notes from

members on the quite commonly kept birds would be welcome.


As this March weather became more beautiful each day I decided

to take my pair of Shamas from the indoor bird-room and put them

in their outside aviary, a roofed affair with two wooden sides at

right-angles and two wire sides at right-angles, 9 ft. square by

7 ft. high. I turned the cock out on 14th March and, although there

were several ground frosts, he was none the worse after ten days.

On 24th March I brought the hen down and rather stupidly turned her

out as well. The cock started clicking ferociously and began to sing—

one can only describe it as under his breath—and the hen burst into

loud song (this particular hen has almost as fine a voice as the cock).

Matters began to look serious and, in a few moments, a hectic aerial

chase began ; the hen dashed into the bottom of a bush and the cock,

singing furiously all the time, began to attack the lady unmercifully.

It was no go, and I put the cock in a large cage hung up in the aviary

with the hen at liberty. The position at the moment, 3rd April, is

merely an armed truce ; and the hen infuriates her proposed husband

by sitting on his cage while he rattles the wires with his beak. Yesterday,

2nd April, I let the cock out, and he was as good as gold for about five

minutes ; the hen during that time sang lustily, sometimes the full

Shama burst of music and then short mellow notes, the cock only

clicked and flicked his tail. Then suddenly he went for her good and

proper, and the lady dived into a Cyprus bush, quite safely. I left them

for half an hour ; coming back, the cock had gone back into his cage,

the lady was still embedded in the Cyprus. I did not feel convinced,

and slipped the cage door down. I must be patient, I suppose, till

mid-May.


My first pair of Diamond Doves are most intriguing. They are

1932 birds of English breed, and came to me last September. Now,

3rd April, the little hen is making an absurdly flimsy nest in the aviary

shelter, which contains hybridizing pairs of Finches. To those who

have bred hundreds of Diamond Doves what follows will seem hardly

worth recording, but they are new birds to me and everything they do>

is a thrill. Up to the end of February I was not certain that they were

_a pair and then, one day, I saw the cock display, and his absurd bow



