M. Amsler—Recently Imported Bluebirds



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.than the Great Tits and they together with the Cole Tit will hatch and

rear Bluebirds quite happily, although owing to their size they cannot

be expected to deal with more than a couple of eggs.


We are told not to count our chickens before the eggs are hatched,

nor must we count our Bluebirds before the eggs are laid but, to give

these birds their due once the birds are mated and the cock is feeding

his hen, eggs very soon appear and a clear egg is of the rarest occurrence.

Also, they will lay up to twenty eggs in a season. As against this how

common it is to find one or more clear eggs together with the youngsters

in the nests of many wild birds living under what are much better

and more natural conditions than those of aviary birds.


Lastly a word of comfort to those who propose working on the

lines which I have so lengthily described. There will be disappoint¬

ments and they may be your own fault or possibly that of some

animal or bird of prey, but be comforted by the knowledge that in

nature there is always a war going on between the weak and the

strong. In my somewhat extensive search and study of Robins’ nests,

which extends over a great number of years, I have come to the

conclusion that in only about 50 per cent of nests begun does all go

well to the full rearing and flight of the young. Either one of the birds

is killed and the survivor has to hunt around for a new mate before

beginning a nest; possibly the eggs may be clear or addled owing to

the disturbance of the sitting bird ; or they may be taken by some

rodent or predatory bird ; and lastly the same fate may overtake the

helpless chicks. All this time both parents in their frantic task of

finding sufficient food for their offspring are open to constant dangers,

though, be it noted, wild birds quite unlike aviary birds are much

more distrustful of humans and other possible dangers when they

know that a whole brood of young is dependent on their own safety.

In the case of Robins it must be admitted that this trait is less marked

than in many other species ; to give an example it is well nigh

impossible to trap adult sparrows during the breeding season.


Should a reasonable number of these birds be bred this coming

season, it would be interesting to hear of such successes in the Magazine

and possibly to arrange exchanges so that unrelated pairs could be

supplied to members who might like to try their hands at the breeding

of these delightful birds.



