82



Dr. M. Amsler—Breeding Failures



A goodly supply of sunflower seed reminded them that there was

such a place as “ Home, sweet home


In a very few days the hen had built a nest in a small juniper in

my rock garden, and it was then necessary to allow the birds to be

together. This was done by trapping both in their cage and removing

the slide for a few hours, after which the hen was again liberated.

As soon as she had laid her first egg, I gave both birds their freedom,

and all went well for a week or so until some marauder spoiled the nest

and broke the eggs. I suspected a cat.


After this I allowed the birds much greater freedom with the result

that the hen built at the top of an apple tree in a garden some two

hundred yards away. The owner of the garden, an Eton master,

happened to be interested in birds, and kept me posted with news.

The birds themselves came home two or three times each day for a

feed, and I had hopes of success until I was told that a Jackdaw had

been seen on the Bullfinches’ nest. A very perilous climb up a some¬

what shaky ladder confirmed our fears.


After this the birds were put back in their own aviary, when the

hen laid again but did not sit.


The eggs were put under a good feeding hen Canary, but after a few

days she forsook her young. One often reads in the weekly bird papers

of Bullfinches reared by Canaries, but my own experience has always

been that after a few days the foster-mother realizes that these huge¬

billed monsters are neither kith nor kin to a Serin, and gives up her

task from sheer fright.


I repeated my liberating experiment here this summer, using the

same cage and methods, but on this occasion the hen disappeared,

never to return, on the second day, leaving a very sad little husband

who spent many a long day calling for her in vain. I hope she is

somewhere in the surrounding woods, and will possibly mate with a

British bird, but I much fear that I owe my loss to an Owl or possibly

a wandering cat.


Aviary birds when first liberated forget that they have two night

enemies—birds or beasts of prey—and heavy rain. They have for the

time forgotten to take the necessary precautions of hiding and sheltering.


Cuban Finches spent quite three months of what we called the



