112 Breeding Notes from New Zealand and Australia



I have a few nice specimens of the beautiful Fire-tail Finch ( Zoena -

ginthus bellus), which I have had for some months. These birds usually

start breeding from September onwards. I recently received a few

nice birds, including Peters Spotted Finches, Black-throated Cardinals,

Bed-faced Waxbills (Pytelia afra), Pileated, Nonpareil, and Indigo

Buntings, etc., so will have some new species to concentrate on this

coming season.


H. S. Sewell.



BREEDING OF THE DUFRESNE WAXBILL


Having successfully bred the Dufresne Waxbill (Coccopygia dufresnii ),

habitat South Africa, just recently, I will give a few notes on this specie

which I trust will be of interest.


Securing two pairs of these delightful little Waxbills a little over

twelve months ago, I released them in a selected breeding aviary, where

one pair soon started to build. These were my rarest Waxbills at that

time, and I might say my optimism ran riot. However, my hopes were

soon settled when it turned out to be only a sleeping nest, as did several

others which they built at different times last season. They proved

to be energetic nest builders, but that was all. I had the misfortune

of losing one of the hens, so this left me with only one true pair. It was

about this time, I believe, that restrictions on South African birds were

enforced, so I was unable to procure any more.


During the breeding season this year, I erected a new breeding

.aviary, and in one compartment established a nice swath of grass. In

this house I placed the Dufresnes together with some Fire Finches.

I had not long to wait before the Little Waxbills were building. They

selected a small nest box high up in their sleeping quarters and all went

well until their approximate hatching date. This was in the latter part

of February, when a good old Australian heat-wave set in, the mercury

soaring up to somewhere in the vicinity of 107° in the shade. Knowing

that something was wrong at this stage, I inspected the nest and found

one chick just hatched, dead, and three eggs in which the young were

dead. Although disappointing, this was not surprising under the

•circumstances.



