344



Lord Tavistock—Breeding Results for 1937



aviary to themselves, and in the second aviary containing an adult cock

and hen and two 1936 cocks and a hen three and two young were reared

respectively by the two females. One of the youngsters in this aviary

was a particularly lovely specimen showing red flecks on his breast

even in nestling plumage and being so steady that he would eat bits

of bread and milk offered him by hand through the wire netting. Seven

beautiful young Swifts reared without loss or trouble proved, however,

grievous to the soul of X, and he proceeded to see what he could do

about it. One of the two young reared by the single pair he afflicted

with a mysterious disease which caused her to lose the use of her wings

and later, to some extent also, of her feet. Swifts, however, often put

up a good fight against illness, and the little hen eventually made a

slow but complete recovery. X then returned to the charge, and

successfully polished off two young from the other aviary by chill

and gastritis, one of the victims, of course, being the tame and lovely

young cock I was expecting to grow into my finest stock bird.


Cockatoos were a complete failure. The Leadbeaters, which

reared two beautiful young last season, had two rickety young this

year, one of which had eventually to be destroyed, while the other

was given away as a pet. It is possible I did not thrown down enough

seed on the ground in the outside flight as the old birds seemed to feed

almost entirely on this germinating seed, and ate very little dry seed

from their dish in the shelter.


I obtained the loan of a cock for my single hen Gang-gang, but he

was in very poor condition from long confinement, too wung stiff to

fly, and much plucked. They got as far as pairing and entering the

nest, but no eggs were laid. I find Gang-gangs very fond of bread

and milk, and also of cooked beef fat, of which they receive a small

piece twnce a week. Hemp seed is extremely bad for them.


The Palm Cockatoo’s aviary was not finished until late in the

summer, and as the cock Banksian had escaped during the winter

and was never heard of again, Mrs. Anningson’s fine hen, now the

oldest bird in my collection, had no chance of repeating her many

efforts to propagate her kind.


With White Boseates no progress was made. I started the season

with a white cock paired to an albino hen ; an albino cock paired to a



