14 

 HINTS FOR BEGINNERS. 



It is quite true that foreign cage-birds are very 

 delicate, and it is equal!}- true that they are very hardy. 

 These statements seem absolutely contradictory, but 

 they are not. Foreign birds, tvhen newly imported, are 

 delicate, and in the case of some species the percentage 

 of deaths is high. On the other hand, those which have 

 survived for some months after importation are generally 

 hardy, often hardier than our native birds. The beginner 

 often invests in a few newh' imported Waxbills, which 

 have been taken out of a warm bird-shop, through the 

 cold of an English INIarch, and turns them into an all- 

 wire cage in a draughty window. Within a fortnight 

 half of them are dead, and their owner is disgusted with 

 the '• delicacy " of foreign birds. If he had been able 

 to obtain acclimatized specimens (and willing to pay a 

 consequently higher price) he w-ould have had fewer 

 losses than with the same number of Goldfinches or 

 Bullfinches. 



On the whole there is nothing like sand for the 

 bottoms of cages and aviaries — not only in the case of 

 seed-eaters, but for soft -food birds. For Lorikeets 

 and Lories something more absorbent, such as saw- 

 dust or peat litter, is required, and also for Toucans 

 and other large soft -bills. But for small fruit- and 

 insect-eating birds sand is the best. I generally use 

 common builders' sand, and for seed-eaters throw in on 

 the top a handful of fine flint grit, such as is sold for 

 young chicken. Newly imported birds are better at 

 first without grit, which should be given to them 

 cautiously in very small quantities and in the form of 

 rough sea-sand. The reason for this is that the birds 

 have been kept without grit for months, and their 

 internal organs have become soft and are liable to be 

 punctured by sharp flint. 



I have always been an advocate for giving the smaller 

 birds a feed by artificial light in long winter evenings. 



