154 Reminiscenced. 



standing" practically em])ty "'' The question is indeed a pregnant 

 one, and one to inspire tlie aviculturist " furiously to think." 

 Let us face it and think how we can minimise our losses. It 

 seems at least we ought to look into the book of nature and fol- 

 low her, removing', needless to say, those causes that maintain 

 the balance twixt creature and creature. With the end of the war 

 we shall begin a new era of bird-keeping". We must, nearly all 

 of us, begin again at the starting' post. Some of us with more 

 experience will avoid many of the time-worn paths that lead to 

 desolation and disappointment, such as leaving' birds that are a 

 bit " thick " out in the open instead of applying" nature's 

 remedy, i.e. dry heat. All this is very instructive, you say, but 

 rather inclined to damp one's enthusiasm. I agree, but surely 

 better that than to kill your enthusiasm by repeated and heart- 

 rending" losses. The fact is aviculture is not a thing that " any 

 fool " can pick up by reading" a text book that may perhaps only 

 advocate the writer's particular views. If he tries he will, 

 instead of picking' up the all necessary knowledge, spend most of 

 his time picking up corpses. The would-be aviculturist must 

 start aviculture with a sound basis of common-sense. Next, 

 if he would succeed, he must study not only the habits of birds, 

 but, what is of infinite more importance — the habitat. For 

 instance, he would not expect a humming bird to do in the back 

 yard facing north, nor would he expect the burrowing owl to 

 thrive in a wire cage in the glaring sun. Experience has shown 

 that humming birds are quite easy to keep if you will but keep 

 the temperature even and elevated. If you want to get a severe 

 shock to your acclimatising" theories, keep a humming bird. 

 You will soon be disillusioned, and incidentally lose a £50 bird. 

 These remarks are but the " prolegomena " of some 

 future remarks I hope to make. My deductions are based on 

 exhaustive experiments and observations made under conditions 

 that I can never hope to see repeated, and, further, all made at 

 the same time. While it is true I had some wonderful successes, 

 which may and may not have been purely beginner's luck, I am 

 bound to plead guilty to experiencing grievous failures and 

 los.ses, which, in the light of more mature experience, and paymg 

 less attention to the advice of others. I believe could have been 

 avoided to a very great extent. I do not pretend to have solved 



