52 PONDS, PADDOCKS, AND AVIARIES 



peculiar habit of taking the sun by elevating one wing 

 to its full extent towards the sky and drooping the other 

 to the ground, in an attitude that I have never seen in 

 any other bird. 



" In the central division of the aviary are a small flock 

 of Alpine choughs, very active and noisy birds, with black 

 plumage, yellow beaks, and red legs. Many of this species 

 have nested and laid eggs in their compartment, but in 

 the few instances in which the eggs have been hatched 

 out, the parent birds have entirely abandoned their young 

 after the first or second day. I have had many of that 

 beautiful sp-^cies, the red-legged or Cornish chough, but 

 although they thrive well in complete liberty I have found 

 it impossible to keep them in health in the aviary for 

 any length of time. 



" Other most lively and amusing inmates of this part 

 of the aviary are the nutcrackers — rare and irregular 

 stragglers of the crow family to our country, but common 

 enough in many of the forests of Central and Northern 

 Europe ; these birds in their native haunts commence laying 

 in March, whilst the snow still lies deep upon the ground. 

 Whether from this or some other cause, it is comparatively 

 speaking only of recent years that the eggs of the nut- 

 crackers have become generally known to ornithologists, 

 and I had offered a high price for the living bird to English 

 and foreign dealers for thirty years before I could obtain 

 even one of them. During the last few years I have 

 been offered many more of these birds than I require. 



