Lord Tavistock—Breeding Results for 1937



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normal hen ; a white-bred grey cock paired to his sister, and a white-

bred grey cock paired to bis grey mother.


The White couple took a lot of interest in their nest, but did not lay.

The albino cock and normal hen were about to breed when X felt

that something must be done or the first White Eoseate to be reared

in captivity might make its appearance. It is not easy to give an

illness to a robust Eoseate in breeding condition, so X was driven

to his last resource when dealing with tough birds safely housed—he

put his head into the shelter and grinned at her when she was at roost

one night, and next morning I found her dead on the floor—of heart

failure !


The cock of the brother and sister White-bred couple had been

guilty of egg-eating at Keston a few' years ago. This summer he

repeated the offence, and the only egg we rescued and placed under

a Pennant failed to hatch.


The White-bred cock and his mother produced two young w ? hich

died at an early age, w 7 hy, I cannot say unless the parents are too

nearly related.


Parrots, also, are mainly a tale of woe or disappointment.


I had two pairs of Eacket-tails, one which had had clear eggs two

years ago, the others being younger. The young couple did not lay

though they got as far as mating and going into the nest. The old pair

not only laid but hatched a young one. I knew from the first that X

would make this treasure the subject of his special attention and it

came as no surprise to me when after a few weeks it died in spite of its

parents’ care. But more was to come. The old birds prepared to nest

again. This maddened X ; nothing, as other aviculturalists also may

have observed, makes him so furious as an unexpected attempt by a

pair of rare birds to defy him and repair the steps he has taken to

ensure a blank season. The hen Eacket-tail was on the point of laying

and the weather was all that could be desired when one morning after

breakfast I found the cock looking ill. He collapsed rapidly in hospital

and was dead by lunch time. I thought he might be suffering from

some unusual malady but it proved to be just ordinary enteritis.


My beautiful lutino Blue-fronted Amazon raises my hopes year

after year by going into the nest and sometimes even pairing, but no



