i67 



pudding is in the eating," and to see for myself how far Dr. 

 Creswell's excellent exposition of the dangers of egg food, and 

 how well birds can be kept without it, could be verified by the 

 condition of his birds. I therefore paid a visit to his extensive 

 aviaries, which contained, I am bound to say, as fine a lot of 

 birds as I have ever seen, either on the show bench or in the 

 hedge row. Amongst other insectivorous birds I remember 

 noticing Redstarts, Wagtails, and a little beauty of a White- 

 throat. Their tameness towards their owner was most striking. 

 On his entering the aviary, and on my withdrawing a few 

 paces, they returned from the distant quarters to which they 

 had retired on my approach, and settled on the perches 

 round him as if the doctor were only a big brother, and then 

 flew on to the food pan he held out to them. Afterwards 

 we found a very large moth which Dr. Creswell introduced 

 to the birds, and then the game began. A Redstart, I think, 

 was the first bird to claim the insect, but was instantly 

 hotly pursued by the Whitethroat ; in the rear came the Wag- 

 tails, one of which grabbed it from its original captor, only 

 to lose half of the precious morsel a moment after to some 

 other bird. And so on, backwards and forwards through the 

 long aviary, these little birds chased the proud possessor of 

 the largest fragment: the latter sometimes dodging behind 

 the shrubs, thereby running double risk from the Blackbirds 

 and Thrushes that lurked behind these bushes. 



In short, my visit left no doubt in my mind that birds can 

 be kept in a state of perfect health without egg food. 



I also saw Mr. Dart's aviaries in the same town, where he 

 keeps a large collection of birds, in whose dietary egg has no 

 place. There is a saying, "an ounce of fact outweighs a ton of 

 theor}'," so I have simplj^ stated what I have seen. 



C. H. C. PSNGEivivKY. 



BREEDING RESULTS. 



Sir, — It may interest 3'ou to know that this year I have 

 again been fortunate enough to breed the Avadavat. The pair 

 built in a cocoa-nut husk, and the young— two in number — are 

 now flying about. 



I also have succeeded up to a point in breeding the Grey 

 Singing Finch and the Golden-breasted Waxbill. 



The Grey Singing Finches built in a cocoa-nut husk, and 



