BIRD NEWS 



fountain head and buys the birds he 

 hears singing. The amateur breeder 

 must ever remember that the birds 

 have to go through the moulting sea- 

 son, during that time the old cocks 

 are silent. The youngsters must not 

 be neglected, it is a critical time, and 

 it is just at this time that the ex- 

 perienced breeder falls back upon the 

 machine. The bird organ must do its 

 daily grind, the babies must be sung 

 to and the song study kept up. This 

 necessity terminates when the moult- 

 ing is over and the old birds take up 

 their singing. How often have we, 

 "in the days of long ago" listened to 

 the seductive voice of some dealer as 

 he became eloquent upon the virtues 

 of some "Nightingale or Woodlark 

 canary" — that is a singer which he 

 said was trained under the song of 

 these birds and had acquired their 

 notes; we under the spell have 

 bought the bird, and then boasted to 

 our friends of the different changes 

 of note. Alas! time has taught us 

 that the changes were often but re- 

 petitions and the "great bird" had 

 been finally relegated to the class as 

 a "singer," but never a roller. On 

 the continent today such a bird 

 would be ranked as a "country man," 

 a singer perchance, but not a musi- 

 cian. The trained roller bears to the 

 country man just about the same re- 

 lationship that the opera star does to 

 the street ballet singer. But don't 

 be too much cast down and feel that 

 the "ballet singer may not be worthy 

 of his keep, he may be a good jolly 

 companion and in spite of his harsh 

 notes become a joy for ever. 



Rollers are not infrequently — so 

 we think — sacrificed upon too criti- 

 cal a standard of excellence, and in 

 an effort to get rid of a "flat" note 

 or like defect bred too "thin" — i. e. 

 depth and clearness are bred out, and 

 the entire song rendered correspon- 

 dingly unsatisfactory. No variety, 

 however, admits of greater reward 



for skilled-breeding and training. 

 None but those who have had much 

 experience can estimate the perfec- 

 tion to which the throat powers of a 

 Roller may be "fashioned." We are 

 sometimes alarmed that the keen ri- 

 valry for notes and enduranuce may 

 finally reduce the "roller" to the 

 class of the battling linnet whose 

 sole business is to rattle out notes 

 loud and fast, with a view of con- 

 fusing, and ultimately, of silencing 

 his opponent. It can not be too 

 strongly impressed that in no other 

 species is the quality of food so es- 

 sential as in the Roller. 



Old breeders say that without Ger- 

 man summer rape seed it is useless 

 to attempt "make- Rollers." The 

 seed must be dark brown or dark 

 blue, perfectly sweet and fruity, and 

 devoid of all acid or bitter taste. 

 When you get this quality lay in a 

 supply — and don't change your 

 brand — at least not through the sing- 

 ing season. The good breeder not 

 alone is careful of the brand, but 

 takes care to remove the seed the 

 last thing at night. On the morning 

 the first meal is washed rape seed; 

 i. e., seed which has the night prev- 

 iously been washed by pouring cold 

 water over it, until the water be- 

 comes clear. This seed is allowed to 

 dry and fed fresh each morning to 

 the birds. 



(To be Continued.) 



Many ornithologists will recall 

 that early last Spring, a well known 

 fancier. Sir William Ingram, sent his 

 agent to the Aru Islands to collect 

 Birds of Paradise. The enterprise 

 was most successful; many rare and 

 beautiful specimens being obtained. 

 Fifty of the Greater Birds of Para- 

 dise, (including 20 pairs) will be 

 sent to the owner's estate in Trini- 

 dad, and will, after due period of 

 rest, be liberated. The results will 

 be watched with much interest. 



