90 S. Harvey — Sjpiny-cheeked Honeyeater



Red and Blue Macaw were bred in Milan about 1900 and exhibited

at the London Zoo in 1901. See above.


Illiger’s Macaw (Ara maracana (V.)).—Neunzig says that this

Macaw has been bred with success in a cage in Germany, but I know

no details. They were bred at the London Zoo in 1931, two young

being reared teste Seth-Smith, Avic. Mag., 1931, 226. The young

thrived, and one I saw in Miss Knobel’s bird-room in 1935, a delightful

tame bird.



SPINY-CHEEKED HONEYEATER


{Acanthagenys rufogularis)


By S. Harvey


In February, 1936, a number of Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters

were caught in the Pinnaroo District and have been in my aviaries

since that time. On 13th October a pair was first seen building a nest

in an ash tree about 10 feet from the ground. On the 19th there were

two eggs, and two young were hatched on 2nd November. Both parents

were feeding white ants and meal-worms. All went well until 5th Novem¬

ber when it was noticed that one young was missing, and no trace

of this could be found anywhere in the aviary. Possibly the parents

thought they were not getting sufficient food for the two so decided

to dispose of one. The remaining young bird continued to thrive until

Saturday, 6th November, when I thought its end had come. I returned

home at 6 p.m. and took meal-worms in. These could not be placed

in a dish as other birds would get them, so I stood about 15 feet away

from the nest and threw the worms, which were caught in mid-air,

to the parents. It was not an easy matter to find the parents as there

were nine Spiny-cheeks in the aviary, the only way to recognize

them was to watch if they ate the worms or held them in the beak—

the parents were never seen to eat a worm, but would pack several

in their beaks. On this particular day they secured the worms and

went to the nest, but did not feed the young bird. After waiting some

time I went to the tree and found the young one on the ground, cold

but still alive. The nest was inspected and found to be loose on one



