From J. J. Weir   26 May 1869

My Dear Sir

I have now made my visit to the Birdcatchers, and find that there is no doubt as to the male of the Nightingale arriving in this country first.—¹

One man told me he had received several males this Spring, and it was not till a fortnight after the first, that he had any females, and then he had two, and he said that the same rule held good for the Blackcap.—²

This latter bird is one that is easily recognized in the male sex & I have invariably noticed that the early birds are males, the head of the female has a brown cap, the other warblers are not easily distinguished, but it has always appeared to me that they arrive in full song, and are afterwards joined by the females.—

One of the Chaffinch “Peggers” has this Spring “pegged” in one day the hitherto unparalleled number of 70 birds.—

A match came off a few days since between two experts   one caught 62 & the other 40 birds.—³

There seems no doubt that the males are considerably in excess of the females, and the jealousy of the males makes them fall such an easy prey to these men.—

Chaffinches have but one nest during the year to each female, unless the first has been destroyed.—

I feel very unwilling to differ from you, but as to the fertility of canary mules I think you must have been misinformed, the universal testimony of Fanciers including our mutual friend Wicking is that they are barren.—⁴

I have heard of but one case of a linnet⁵ mule breeding ♂ but the testimony was not that of an experienced man.—

I placed two mule hens in my aviary one a Goldfinch & the other a Siskin mule, both Goldfinches ♂ & a Siskin ♂ are with them but I notice no advances on either side.

On the other hand I placed one canary ♀ in the aviary to see out of all the species, Linnets, Goldfinches, Siskin, Greenfinch, Chaffinch’s & others which she would choose, there was never any doubt the Greenfinch carried the day & this morning I observe two young ones hatched.⁶

You would have been pleased to see how so dull a colored bird as the Greenfinch (chloris), made the most of his generally concealed brighter feathers when courting.— The tail was spread, so as to exhibit the bright yellow outer webs of the feathers, and the wings were drooped to make the most of their golden edgings, the bird singing all the time, however he proved irresistible—

It appears to me that birds which breed but once are more quarrelsome than those which have more