<S2 Aviary Ohservatiojis. 



climbing up, or regularly mooching among the bushes, putting) 

 my finger into spherical nests, etc., these methods I certainly 

 do not practise, and thei-e are few species which I have bred 

 that I have not been able to secure pretty full data concerning 

 them. More I need not say, as the past six volumes of 

 Bird Notes contain many, and I need not recapitulate. TJnfor- 

 tunaicly of late years Bird Notes has claimed most of the time 

 I used to give to observing my birds. 



Bu^ this paper is getting altogether too long and dis- 

 cursive : tliereidre I lad l)etter taliulafe some of the means 

 I use in addition to those already implied in the foregoing. 



1. From the outside of the aviary and the use of field- 



2. By persistent watching for and collection of egg- 

 shells after hatching has taken place, beneath 

 the nests of the birds. 



3. By the aid of a hand mirror on a long tube -jointed 



stick, I have ascertained the colour of the eggs 

 of many species, and also secured descriptions 

 of the callow young. During the past season 

 (1912), I ascertained the contents of a nest at 

 an elevation of 11| feet, both as regards eggs 

 and the callow young, by this means. 



4. By quietly walking about in the aviary, often several 



times a day, even if only for brief periods, at 

 the same time I never go obtrusively near the 

 bushes or tall herbage which shelters a nest. 

 In conclusion I would like to add, that careful and per- 

 sistent observation adds greatly to the zest of aviculture; more- 

 over, I personally consider that aviculturists have a responsi- 

 bility which they ought not to shirk, viz., to supply all the 

 data possible concerning the life histories of the species they 

 keep, and which I maintain, may be obtained without undue 

 interference with the birds. Personally I have not taken un- 

 due risks in observing my birds, except in special cases, and 

 then have met with frequent mishaps, and know of many sim- 

 ilar mishaps occurring to other aviculturists. This past season 

 a nest of Violet -eared Waxbills in a friend's aviary near here 

 was lost from this cause. 



The above has been penned during a period of severe 



