Maurice Amsler—Breeding Prospects for 1933



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No. 3 aviary is practically empty except for the two pairs of

Barbary Doves and a hen Sulphury Seed-eater mated to a cock

Greenfinch. She was sold to me as a cock and a fine singer some four

years ago. It is quite true she sings—after a fashion—but she has

proved her sex each season, including the present one, by building

a nest and incubating a clutch of eggs. Last summer I caught a cock

Greenfinch for her. Being a bird of somewhat similar build and colour

I hoped they might mate, but I have seen him making love to a wild

hen through the aviary wires, so fear my plans will not mature.


The last of my larger aviaries contains a collection of Waxbills

and two White-fronted Doves. Whether these are a pair or not I am

not sure. I understand from Mrs. Astley, who gave them to me, that

they are ready breeders, but so far I have seen no signs of building or

display on the part of the bird I consider to be the male.


There is still one more small enclosure which I have failed to

mention which is just a wire flight, some 10 by 4 ft., without any

real shelter, and which opens direct into the garden. It is here that

I place any pair of birds which I want to breed at semi-liberty. In this

aviary and in this manner I have successfully reared Great Tits, Orchard

Finches, Green Cardinals, the American Robin (TUrdus migratorius ),

and the Blue Robin, the last on numerous occasions. If I lived in the

country and had more time I should erect a number of these small

wire flights, well apart one from the other to prevent fighting between

their respective occupants. There is, of course, always a risk of losing

one’s birds which perhaps adds spice to the experiment, but once

there are young to feed the danger of straying is a very small one.

Such is the devotion of birds to their offspring that we are all familiar

with the fuss and bill-clicking which occurs when we inspect a nest

of almost any insectivorous bird, and it is with this class of bird in

particular that I should employ semi-liberty, on account of the much

greater variety of food which a free bird can supply to its young.

It is an undoubted fact that birds so reared are much larger and more

vigorous than those bred in a closed aviary on a diet of mealworms,

ants’ eggs, and any other live food which its hard-working owner

can collect.


The pleasure of seeing one’s birds flying loose and of knowing that



