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Evelyn Sprawson—1936 and 1937



letting down of the gular skin (bib), but not, in so far as I remember,

the quivering of the wings.


A Rainbow Bunting (? Cyanospiza leclancheri) hen, which we have

had for several years, last year laid three eggs in a round tin with

canary seed in it. We had seen her flying round with bits of grass, etc.

However, she made no nest whatever, but laid on the bare seed. Though

there was a male Bunting there, he had not long been purchased, and

was certainly not in breeding condition. However, the thin shelled

eggs inevitably got broken—probably by other birds—in spite of every

care, but the hen continued to sit for about a fortnight, and did not

leave her “ nest ” when we walked within a foot or so of it.


We then turned both cock and hen into the adjacent aviary, which

happened to be empty, and I fixed up all sorts of nesting contrivances.

I had read somewhere (a book in the bird room at South Kensington

Museum, I think) that they nested in heaps of stones, so heaps of

stones, tins filled with dry sand, etc., were fixed up, but she would

have none of them, but again sat—this time without laying—in the

tin of canary seed. This year she sat without laying in the canary seed

tin again. The eggs are extremely elongated, white (looking pinkish

from the yolk showing through), with dull red or purplish spots at

and around the larger end, reminding one of the English Swallow’s egg.

I do not remember hearing of this bird’s laying in England before.


Chinese Hawfinches (. Euphonia migratoria). —This pair we had had

quite six years, and most years they have nested and hatched, but we

cannot rear the young above eight or nine days. They nested again

last year, four eggs and four hatched, and experimentally we removed

the male bird when the young were about seven days old, but we did

not rear them : mealworms do not seem sufficient as a live food.

Remembering Canon Farrar’s account of using cockroaches, we tried

to get some, but apparently the sanitary authorities of this district

have eliminated them or modern houses are not favourable to their

habitation and increase, anyway they were not forthcoming. So we

were unable to try them. We lost the cock bird in the autumn, and

have not replaced him. They need an aviary to themselves when

nesting.


Experimentally several years ago I got, from a fellow member,



