BIRD NOTES: 



— THE — 

 JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



My Aviaries and Birds, 



By Capt. J. S. Reeve, F.Z.S.. M.B.O.U. 



Your Editorial admonition in January issue of B.N , 

 combined with a free evening, has compelled me to attempt an 

 article. 



My aviaries, except for an alteration to which I will refer 

 later, are as they were when last described in this Journal; 

 therefore I am not giving" any details of these. 



In pre-war days I went in principally for foreign finches, 

 weavers and waxbills. I was obliged to get rid of the greater 

 part of these while away soldiering, and the only survivor was 

 a cock Red-headed Weaver {Quclca erythrops), which came 

 from Hamlyn in 1906. and survived his return here by over a 

 year, dying in November 1920, being then fully fifteen years old; 

 he was out of doors all the year round practically the whole 

 period. 



Since the war I have gone in for a few Softbills, Parra- 

 keets, and the rarer British species. uf those not still in my 

 aviaries I may mention a pair of Cirl Buntings (Emberisa 

 cirlus), of whose nesting I contributed a few notes last year; a 

 Black-necked Grackle (which I ultimately sold to the New York 

 Zoo) was an amusing customer who did not know what fear 

 was. but he was never in the best of health ; a pair of Crossbills, 

 which w'ould soon have destroyed a large holly bush in my 

 large aviary, not to mention rambler roses, all of the which thev 

 barked and frayed the twigs ; a pair of Woodlarks were verv 

 engaging, and the song of the male was very sweet and distinc- 

 tive, but they did not long survive ! 



The present occupants of my aviaries are as follows : 



House Aviary : This was refitted a year ago, and I put 



