W. B. Partridge—Breeding of the Jackson’s Thrush 279


THE BREEDING OF THE

JACKSON’S THRUSH


(Turdus elgonensis)


By W. B. Partridge


This pair of breeding Jackson’s Thrushes was imported from

Kenya about May last year, along with two other Jackson’s and some

other birds, by a friend. I secured all four, and at the time it was

almost impossible to sex them. Their colours were identical, the

only guide being that two were slightly smaller and more feminine

in general appearance, suggesting hens. This has since proved to be

correct, and now the cock bird is definitely slightly larger than the

hen, while the only noticeable difference in colouring is that the cock

has a larger area of white on the abdomen.


When the birds arrived I put them together in an aviary, where

they stayed until the end of August. I then sold one pair to Colonel

Appleby, who later exhibited them with some success at the last

Crystal Palace Show.


I gave the other two, for I thought them a true pair, an aviary to

themselves, not moving them after this, and it was here they bred.


This aviary is really a row forming a range with a back feeding

passage. Each compartment is 6 by 4 feet, and has a 6 in.

ledge running right along one side, 6 feet from the floor. The flight

to each of these compartments is 4 feet wide and 11 feet long,

with no bushes or other natural furnishings.


By the middle of May this year; I was becoming very doubtful

about the supposed and hoped-for pair. They were never seen to feed

each other, and if one bird flew into the flight, the other immediately

retreated into the shelter, and this has been their behaviour all through

the winter months.


However, in the third week of May, one of the birds was seen carrying

bits of grass about. An ordinary small margarine box was placed, with

a strip of wood 3 inches high nailed across the front, on edge on

the 6 in. ledge. Building material supplied, the pair at once began

to build.



