42 Feeding and Keeping HardhiUs. 



residence, and part of my collection had to be sold, including' 

 the Honey-eater. He passed into the hands of our member 

 Mr. E. J. Brook, having quite an adventurous journey from 

 London to Ecclefechan. being, if I remember rightly, four or 

 five days on the way — the railways surpassed themselves — yet 

 arriving in decent form, but hungry — I g-uess it was a plentiful 

 STioply of milk-sop and fruit and a largish parrot cage wrapped 

 round with sacking that saved his life. 



I hope, sometime, again to possess a pair of some species 

 oi M yea nth a. 







Feeding and Keeping Hardbills. 



By Wesley T. Page, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



This article is being penned to meet an expressed need 

 by some of the members, but it is impossible to comply wholly 

 with the expressed need, viz: that articles under " Hardbills " 

 and " Softbills " should appear in Bird Notes, and not only 

 include housing", feeding, etc., but also supply a rough descrip- 

 tion of each species and special individual treatment — such is 

 impossible even if any individual could be found to undertake 

 such a task con ainore, such a serial would run for years; 

 besides, each volume of Bird Notes is full of the information 

 asked for — again, think of the dreary repetition, as one wearily 

 reads (leaving the poor author out of the question) through page 

 after page of, say, for instance WEAVERS, the number of 

 species is almost legion, and the feeding and treatment for all 

 nearly identical, and, to repeat same ad nauseuin species by 

 species would, T opine, very soon bring about the demise of the 

 Club Journal. 



Give a glance at the index of any volume, and you'll get 

 an idea of the number of species dealt with therein, and even 

 if full comprehensive detail of the confinement economy of 

 each species is not given in full, usually again and again lists 

 of birds kept together in any enclosure with the foods supplied 

 are to be found, and members (readers) must think for them- 

 selves suilficiently to apply the information given to meet their 

 own need. I admit that the bulk of F.B.C. membership keep 

 tljeir birds in aviaries, large or small, and consequently the 



