Dr. M. Amsler—Breeding Failures



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By dint of mealworms and a certain amount of careful shepherding,

I soon taught the Blue Birds their way in and out of their home, and

the improvement in the chick was obvious in a very few days. He left

the nest at the age of 23 days, just about a week later than normal,

but was a large, well-coloured bird—a cock.


In an aviary Blue Birds are much inclined to neglect their young

once they have flown, and a never-failing remedy I have found is to

cage them all together for about ten days. In this case, however, the

youngster died a few days later during my absence, and I do not place

the blame for his death on anyone but myself.


Had I given the parents their liberty earlier, I should probably

have reared three of these Kobins.


After her return to her aviary the hen laid three more eggs, but

I had no hope from these, as the cock was no longer feeding her, and

I proved to be right, the eggs were clear.


It is an odd thing about this species that newly imported birds will

go to nest at once and rear one or two nests without fuss or bother,

but in their second and successive years it is a much more difficult

matter.


Can there be some vitamine or hormone which gradually disappears

in captive birds which makes them less able to rear satisfactorily ?

Aviary-bred birds in their first year are not any better in this respect

than their older and acclimatized parents.


Siberian Bullfinches have always been great favourites with me,

and it is many years since I have been without one or more pairs, but

the number of young I have reared can be counted on the fingers of

one hand (excluding the thumb). The young are often neglected after

the first few days, and even when they leave the nest their troubles

are by no means over ; to be quite honest I have only reared one to

live for three or four years.


As these are not valuable birds, I took a chance some years ago

at Eton. When I saw the cock feeding his mate I caught both up and

put them in a cage with a sliding partition. This I hung outside

the aviaries. The cock was liberated first, and after he had learned his

way home, the same process was repeated with the hen, but both

birds were not let out at the same time.



