174 Reminiscences. 



driven in and slnit in. The (luestion of iisiriiG^ shelters has 

 always been a knotty i)oint with me. l'eo]")le tell me f//r/r birds 

 use tlicir shelters, but in all my fifteen a\-iaries this has not been 

 my experience excej)! with i)arrakeets. The reason seems to 

 me obvious. It is a (|uesti()n of cover. Birds prefer natural 

 cover to shelters, even when well sui)plied with " twiggy 

 branches," .and will willingly face the fiercest gale to satisfy 

 their poichani for natural living cover. To i:)rove my point, 

 1 put in a growing rhododendron in a pot inside a shelter wdiich 

 the birds ivould not use. At once some of the birds roosted in 

 the shrub, and when I opened the door just as it was getting" 

 dark the birds all flew out " as one luan," except those roosting 

 in the rhododendron. So convinced am I that this is the 

 explanation that T intend to plant only deciduous trees in my 

 new aviary. This. I believe, will cure the roosting out pro- 

 clivities, and at the same time obviate the dank condition of all 

 " natural " aviaries, that is inseparable from damp and foggy 

 winter days. It is my firm conviction that birds can stand cold 

 but that damp is fatal to them. Hence, everything that encour- 

 ages damp should ipso facto be discouraged. Which leads one 

 to the simple corollary and that is, to be sure and have a large 

 open space in your aviary, where the sun can reach and the air 

 circulate freely. In other words it is my hor.est conviction that 

 the cover business can easily be, and generally is, overdone. It is 

 essential to correlate cause and effect. Not to do so spells 

 continued failure, to say nothing of the loss of valued, if not 

 valuable birds. I am now engaged on a new aviary. It is, 

 compared with those previously possessed, a very modest affair. 

 Many of the ideas gained by previous experiences will be intro- 

 duced, but many, owing to the fact that one has to utilise 

 pre-existing structures, must be left as unavailable. But this 

 open space theory shall not be one of the latter, and I intend to 

 try my hand at Gouldian h'inches once again, if they should ever 

 come within the limits of a restricted purse once more. In spite 

 of all that has been written about their rather preferring ice to 

 water to drink, rexelling in the snow, and being as hardy as 

 Polar bears, like the canny Scot, " I hae ma doots." Then- 

 native heath provitles none of these blandishments, and once 

 again 1 ask where arc tlie ]iolar-birds to-day? I fancy most of 

 thetn are enjoying " a far serener clime." No, I am inclined to 



