Ornithological and Other Oddities 



expected to bear marketable plumes in the year 

 after capture. 



The best way to keep them would be to clip 

 the long quills of one wing, and turn them out 

 in an enclosure surrounded by a six-foot fence 

 of the coarsest netting until they got tame, when 

 they could be allowed to wander about any avail- 

 able fields, care being taken at first that they 

 did not stray. They would do no harm to any 

 sort of crop, as they are purely animal feeders ; 

 in fact, they would be of use in destroying 

 vermin, as, like our own heron, they do not 

 confine themselves to fish. The vicinity of a 

 stream would of course be desirable ; but in 

 the absence of such accommodation a large 

 shallow tub, kept full of clean water, would be 

 sufficient for them to bathe in. 



They would probably need no shelter from 

 the weather ; but rough ladders should be placed 

 against convenient trees for them to go up to 

 roost, or in the absence of such arboreal con- 

 veniences an open shed with perches underneath 

 would serve as a dormitory. In such a place, 

 too, earth could be put underneath to absorb the 

 droppings, which would be as valuable manure 

 as guano. 



With a free range they would, as I intimated 

 above, pick up a good deal of their own food, 

 but if they had to be fed entirely by artificial 



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