The Endurance of Birds. 155 



every problem of aviculture, neither do I claim to be in any way 

 infallible, but 1 trust 1 shall not be blind to past faults and 

 past failures. With this determination before me I am going" 

 to try my hand at aviculture again, and hold an inquest on every 

 bird that dies. When 1 left the country 1 determined 1 would 

 never take up birds again, but a visit from our Editor tilled me 

 with fresh enthusiasm, and inspired me to write this article, 

 followed in due course by articles on avicultiu'e from a purely 

 practical, if personal, point of view. Xext month I hope to begin 

 at the beginning and make more remarks on the home for our 

 feathered pets. We humans don't go to a place and then build 

 our house. We build our house, then go and live in it. More- 

 over, when we build a house we don't phmip it down in a place 

 because it is convenient, but we choose our " site," My first 

 piece of advice and last word is. If you cannot choose a decent 

 site for your aviary, and you contemplate keeping birds, follow 

 ]\Ir. Punch's advice to those about to get married — DON'T! 

 The birds are at your mercy, and your sole right to inflict dreary 

 quarters and impossible surroundings on them is because you 

 " paid for them " — a more mean and despicable excuse for 

 neglecting or failing to afford the best possible circumstances 

 to your avian prisoners, I cannot imagine, unless it be that a 

 man says he " cannot afford better." as though the birds' 

 comfort and happiness were of secondary consideration when 

 compared to his own acquisitiveness and cupidity. Unless you 

 can afford to " do your birds cit//." I say you have no right to 

 " do " them at all. 



■<-M^ 



The Endurance of Birds. 



By Wesley T. Page, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., etc. 

 Continued, from page i^g. 

 Waxbills. — Of this group the six species included in the 

 list given at commencement of this series, three of which I have 

 bred, are all that come within the scope of this article. The 

 waxbills are not a free breeding group either in aviaries or 

 cages, though some of the earliest aviarists indicate the St. 



