6o My Yellow-winged Sugarbirds. 



shone again, and we began looking about again; half the Sugar 

 l)irds seemed to have disappeared, but a search revealed them 

 lielpless in tne grass; of course the hot sun soon put them right, 

 and they were quickly on the wing again; but. had the rain 

 continued, many of them would have died unless help had come 

 to their aid; such is the beginning of many cases of summer 

 pneumonia. 



Last year another pair adorned my aviary, and, of course, 

 the tropical weather just suited them, and they were delightful — 

 they were a devoted couple, quite " Darby and Joan " style — 

 they never ailed the whole season. How one could rhapsodise 

 of their exquisite beauty and deportment, but I am holding 

 myself in with a tight rein ! But I will allow myself a few terse 

 phrases. Now sitting at leisure on a spray of cupressus, 

 holding sweet converse, indulging in little loving "" embraces," 

 and quietly preening each other's plumage; then on the wing, 

 fluttering like butterflies, in the midst of a cloud of midges, when 

 snapping beaks showed what havoc they were working. How 

 brilliant were the flashes of colour one got every now and again. 

 Then a short period of rest, and anon they w^ere creeping. 

 creeper-like, round and round, up and down, searching the bark 

 of the standards supporting the roof of aviary flight, and they 

 did not search in vain ; but enough : I have prosed on to an 

 unseemly length, and must perforce close with a few remarks as 

 to their diet. 



Diet : For birds in a cage as in the aviary, the main 

 dietary is syrup-sop — milk, honey, a little unseasoned meat 

 extract and half-inch cubes of sponge cake — and fruit. I also 

 supply insectile mixture, of which they take a little, mealworms 

 very sparingly, but any small spiders, flies, and any otUer insects 

 one can capture can be given freely. In the aviary they, of 

 course, have access to all the above foods, but, as far as mv 

 observation goes, they only take the syrup-sop and fruit, 

 capturing all the insect food they require for themselves. 



Who will be the first to breed this charming species ? 

 Mr. E. J. Brook has, I think, up to the present, come the nearest 

 to success, but no young birds were reared. 



