J. E. Sweetnam—Notes from a Berkshire Aviary



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quite sufficient to discourage any but the most prolific birds. In com¬

parison with former years all my birds were at least six weeks late in

going to nest, most of the earlier clutches were addled, and 1936 has

been my worst breeding season for years. It is but poor satisfaction to

hear the same tale of woe from many others.


Even Red-headed Parrot Finches, which I regard as amongst the

hardiest and most prolific, as well as the most delightful of the smaller

foreign hardbills, have been disappointing ; two pairs having reared

only seven young to date ; as against twelve last season. A friend, who

rather specializes in this species, reckons he can sex his birds by

appearance. I confess that, though I have tried each and every supposed

test, I cannot do so with any certainty and, as happened this season,

my “ hens ” have turned into cocks—a rather unfortunate habit in the

case of a species the females of which I have found almost impossible

to obtain at any price during the breeding season. As the importation

of Red-heads seems to have almost ceased, and the available stock is

now mainly aviary-bred, this scarcity of hens is rather surprising. In

my experience it is easy enough to sex adult cocks by their call-note

and behaviour, but the hens cannot be so easily detected. As with many

other species, two cocks will nest, roost, and go about together, and

generally behave as though a true pair. It may be worth mentioning

in this connection that when, for any reason, the parents are not

available to incubate or rear, a good pair of Gouldians are excellent—

in my experience even more satisfactory than Bengalese for rearing

Parrot Finches.


The behaviour of the Gouldians with me this season goes to support

the contention that they are particularly susceptible to local conditions,

of which I think the water supply is the most important. When at

Taunton I found them both delicate and uncertain breeders. Here,

on the contrary, they have been just the opposite, and one of the first

species to go to nest. The alteration may, of course, be partly due to

strain—though my present pairs were picked up more or less at random,

and by way of experiment to see how this locality would suit them.

If they are to be used as fosters for semi-insectivorous birds I find it is

a good plan to get them on to milksop, upon which many such species

can be effectively reared. Mine made free use of it when rearing Parrot



