My Waders' Aviary. 33 



use them, but waders seem to have a dislike for any kind of 

 shelter except perhaps those formed by hunks of earth on tree 

 roots. 



The estimate given for building this aviary was, for 

 brick foundations, all woodwoork (not including shelters), wire 

 and all labour connected with the building, apart from levelling 

 ground, etc., £40; the pond as before stated £6 — and to this 

 must be added another £25 for gardeners laying turf, sand for 

 beach, digging out i)ond, making paths, bridges, steps, etc., 

 bringing the total cost to about £70 



Having thus gone into the details of construction 

 roughly, I may now pass on to the more exciting business of 

 stocking the aviary, although I must admit that filling our 

 pond by means of the water-fall rock stream after a good deal 

 of time and labour had been spent on its formation, was quite 

 exciting enough and reminded one of some of the creations seen 

 at the Hippodrome. 



The first birds I turned into my new Eden happened 

 to be two solemn Marabou Storks, which I christened Adam 

 and Eve (but I T3elieve they are two males) . These were closely 

 followed by an unnamed Ibis, some Black -headed Gulls, and 

 a South American Water Rail; of course these were only 

 temporary residents, and as soon as the first batch of Waders 

 came to hand, the aliove were removed to less roomy quar- 

 ters, much to their disgust. Now there are many points in 

 favour of keeping Waders if one has the accommodation, the 

 very reasonable price and ease in procuring them being two 

 of the first; they are easily fed, and appear hardy, and for 

 general interest regarding their habits and little ways are to 

 my mind unsurpassed by any other kind of bird. 



All the foods required to keep Waders in health are 

 fine scalded biscuit meal and chopped raw meat (liver for 

 preference), of course worms, and insects of any kind are 

 acceptable, but in a large enclosure numbers of these must be 

 picked up by the birds themselves; soaked bread crusts, and 

 boiled rice are also useful foods to give. 



The one drawback to Waders is the frequency with 

 which they seem to injure their legs. I think this is done by 

 their being suddenly startled, and unlike most birds when they 

 fly up and strike the wire, instead of injuring their heads, it 



