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A VISIT TO A LONDON FANCIER. 



Thinking I might see something that would be ot 

 interest I paid our fellow member, Mr. J. Dewhurst, of 

 Fulham, a visit a short time back, and must confess I 

 was more than repaid with what I saw. First of all he 

 showed me a good stock of small soft-bills, ranging from 

 the Long-tailed Tit to the Wheatear, which latter Mr. 

 Dewhurst has succeeded in keeping in fine condition in 

 spile of the last lengthy winter. He had some fine 

 Blackcaps looking very fit, also several Nightingales 

 which with ordinary luck might be expected to give a 

 good account of themselves on some of the vShow 

 benches during the coming season. There were five 

 Swallows which appeared quite at home and tame. 

 These are very pretty little birds, but I think they are 

 seen at their best when in the open. There were several 

 Whitethroats and a pair of Redstarts. The hen Red- 

 start was certainly in good condition, and my host 

 surprised me by saying he had then had her about a 

 fortnight, and she had not tasted a mealworm but had 

 "nieated" herself off on ordinary soft food. I might 

 here mention that Mr. Dewhurst does not believe in 

 mealworms except for the first few days of a bird's cage 

 life. 



The larger of his inse6livorous birds included his 

 well known Greater Spotted Woodpecker, which, I believe^ 

 he has kept for close on five years, and his Cinnamon 

 Blackbird, also some fine Fieldfares, Redwings, Thrushes, 

 and Blackbirds, etc. But his trump card was to come in 

 the shape of five young Kingfishers he had succeeded in 

 rearing from the nest, and ver\' fine they looked — perfect 

 in feather and very tame. These Mr. Dewhurst was very 

 proud of and rightly so, for they were quite a picture to 

 look at, and I am sure they will be a centre of interest if 

 he has the good luck to get them through the moult, which, 

 I am told, is the difficulty others have experienced who 

 have tried to rear these birds. The Kingfishers have 

 decidedly large appetites, for INIr. Dewhurst produced the 



