Abstract
Brian O'Gorman's abiding interest became the study and the breeding of Australian grass/inches under conditions which, following trial and error, he could honestly say were "ideal" for a particular species. This simply means that he has evolved an aviary which has been designed specifically for the species it is to house - with that same design also being suited to the captive breeding of the species in question.
In Australia the beautiful firetail finch Emblema bella is one of two native species which normally cannot be legally kept in captivity, the other being the closely related red-eared firetailfinch Emblema oculata. Consequently both species are not part of the avicultural world in Australia.
Brian believed that as an aviary species the beautiful firetail was not well known and, more importantly, was one of the Australian grass/inches about which almost nothing was known of in the wild. These were the sorts of things which motivated him to study this fascinating ( and extremely shy) species in the wild and made him decide, if it was at all possible, to keep and breed it in captivity.
The only way Brian could legally keep the beautiful firetail in captivity was if the state fauna authority ((Fisheries & Wildlife Service) would give permission. To support his application Brian enlisted the aid of myself as editor of Australian Aviculture, and John Scharer as the president of the Avicultural Society of Australia, to supply references as to his suitability as an experienced and competent auiculturist. The committee of the society (ASA)fully supported his intention and application.
The rest is now history! He was given permission to legally acquire two pairs of beautiful firetail finches and to keep them in the specially designed aviaries he had built for them at his home in Stawell, in the northwest of Victoria, Australia.
Graeme Hyde Editor
Australian Aviculture
INTRODUCTION
When I commenced my field studies on the beautiful firetail finch Emblema bella the aspects to be studied were vast. Even so I set myself specific goals.
First, I wanted to witness and record the courting display and song which, at the time, were unknown. I wanted to discover the various calls and, if possible, to record them on cassette tape. However, approximately 12 months into the study I became convinced that due to the denseness of the habitat and the species' "low profile" within the habitat, it was most unlikely that I could achieve success in either area unless it was possible for me to study the birds at extremely close rangesuch as within the confines of an aviary. I would reassure readers that my acquisition of the beautiful firetail was simply an extension of my field study work.
Breedings of the beautiful firetail on the Australian mainland are so few that they are rare.
My proposed program was made potentially more difficult as the small amount of information on aviary breeding in the literature mentioned that the Tasmanian species was much easier to breed. So it could be that most of the few breedings which have occurred on the mainland were actually with Tasmanian birds.
Housing was, and is, the key to success with this species, not necessarily to breed it, merely to keep it alive. At the time of writing I have now bred the beautiful firetail on four occasions, two of those breedings are second generation breedings or breedings from parents who were in their turn, aviary bred. Along the way I have managed to attain all my goals and two society members have witnessed both the courting display and nest building activities. None of this would have been possible without confining the birds to captivity. What follows is how I went about it.
The Aviary Concept
As my -colleagues are aware I have long held the view that as aviculturists we should first decide what bird we intend to keep-and then design the aviary to suit it-and not fall into the old trap of first building the aviary and then agonizing on what to stock it with.
I have five large aviaries and all are differently designed. The field work I have done on the species convinced me that I would need maximum ground cover, by that I mean cover that completely screened the lower 1. 2 to 1.8 meters of the aviary. The cover had to perform three functions. First as a screening effect, second as a nesting source and third as a source of food; so plant selection was important. The birds were wild and predominantly green feeders, so several sources or varieties of grasses had to be chosenproviding a year long supply of food or a supply sufficient in quantity until the birds naturally weaned themselves on to some form of basic supplied diet.
I believe that as much as it were possible I should avoid the employment of artificial perches. Further work had revealed the beautiful firetail to be a fast and agile flyer, with a certain amount of aggression taking place during the breeding season. The initial stages of this aggression results in fast aerial chases. I was...