Tlic iJi'solatioii of Wart'unc. 27 



I give is canary, Indian millet, and rape; the soft food 1 make 

 and keep in a tin — bread dried and browned in oven and 

 pounded up, sjionge cake crumbled fine, crushed hemp and 

 pounded cuttlefish; I mix this, as required, with grated carrot 

 N^hich makes it the right consistency. 



I attend t j the birds myself, and have concrete baths, 3ft. 

 by 4ft. in each divisioi o">Uside; if they freeze, which is very 

 seldom here, I pu : water and dishes inside the cottage; the 

 baths are cleaned on' about once a month, and rain keeps them 

 clean and fresh. 



I have a few guiiiea pigs in each division, and they keep 

 the grass quite short — they are Abyssinian. 



(Jne day late in (October I found the cock C'rossbill (the 

 hen was dead) struggling on the ground under some bushes; 

 hi;: head seemed to b? ([uite smashed in and bleeding. I thought 

 it was a hopeless case, but I brought him in and kept him very 

 quiet in the dark, put a few drops of milk and brandy down his 

 throat, and fed him on broad and milk; he got better but was 

 ;M-alysed; tlici lie gradually began tj eat seed and to help 

 himself along \\\\\\ his beak and then to climb up the side of his 

 cage, and about a fortnight ago I let him out in the aviary with 

 the new birds, which were shut in. I put his food on the 

 ground and some l)ranches on the ground and now he can fly 

 quite well, and when I opened the door flew out with the others. 

 I felt very proud of my patient — he is such a delightful bird, 

 and I cannot imagine how he was hurt.. 



Can anyone tell me if ( ioldfinches are likely to nest in 

 an aviary and if so what kind of tree would they require?* 

 They are now nice and tame. My pair of Bullfinches reared two 

 broods in the aviary, and the hen used to eat mealworms out 

 of my hand while sitting on her nest, but I fancy that Gold- 

 tinches are wilder b" raturc — we hav'^ none at all in this district; 

 we have seen ? few pairs of Bullfinches wdiich are rather 

 destructive to the fnn't buds, Imt which, to our gardener's 

 disgu.st, I absolutely forl)id him to destroy. T find if ther^ i^' 

 the least hole in the, wire, as sonietime^ happeri,s, iwiW birds 

 invariably find their way in— Qiaflfinches, Green Linnets, Tits 



* Yes, tivjy like an apple or other siinitar fruit tree, but arc quite ready to 

 take ihc " next 1)est thin"-." — Ed. 



