Alfred Ezra—Breeding Buppell's Starling



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high-pitched note which is uttered nearly all the time the bird is in

motion. This tiny bird has few enemies ; he is too quick and active

for cats, rats, weasels, or hawks, the entrance hole of his nest, which

is usually in a hollow tree near the ground, is so small that only this

tiny creature could possibly get inside. It was impossible even to get

two fingers into the entrance hole to the nests I found.


So long as the beech forests remain in the higher altitudes this

tiny bird will continue plentiful.


{To he continued)



BREEDING RUPPELL’S STARLING


(.Lamprotornis purpureopterus)


By Alfred Ezra


This Starling is found in N.E. Africa, from Abyssinia to Tanganyika

Territory, where they are plentiful in small flocks. They have quite a

pleasing song, and are insectivorous and frugivorous and associate with

the green Glossy Starlings. I was nearly successful in rearing a young

one the year before last, in fact one young one was reared but was

killed the day he left the nest. This year I had a pair in one of my

large aviaries, and they built a nest inside the aviary shelter in a nest-

box about eight feet from the ground. The nest was built of leaves,

roots of grass, and mud. The first egg was laid on the 10th May.

Three eggs were laid, and, although the birds did not sit very well, two

young were hatched out by the 26th May. One young one was found

dead on the 1st June, but the other one was successfully reared, leaving

the nest on the 20th June. The hen bird did most of the feeding, and

from the 26th June the young bird fed himself. The old birds started

building again the day the young left the nest. When feeding their

young the old birds had the habit of attacking anyone who went into

the aviary, usually from behind, catching one on the head or neck.



