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Con espondence.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.



GREEN FOOD FOR CAGE BIRDS.


Sir, —If I may venture to comment on Mrs. Stanley Flower’s article

in this month’s Magazine, I would warn inexperienced bird keepers to be

very careful li'hat green stuff they give their birds, especially the tiny

foreigners. Many years ago, in my quite early days of keeping these small

friends, I threw a handful of green stuff on the bird room floor and the

next morning, to my sorrow, picked up the dead body of my treasured

Cordon Bleu ! I took the dead bird to a naturalist who concluded it died

of inflammation caused by eating Groundsel.


For man}' years I have contented myself with giving only g>ass when

in flower as recommended by Dr. Butler.


I found natural perches as advised by Mrs. Flower a great delight to

my birds, and always use them in my bird-room. E-E.W.



NOTES ON SUGAR BIRDS.


Sir, —Having kept several species of Sugar Birds the following notes

may be of interest to your readers.


In all I have had three Yellow-wings, one Green and one Purple.

The three first succumbed, at various periods, to pneumonia ; the Green

must, I think, have died from old age as the bird was in good condition.


The Purple is still with me, after a year, and the curious thing is that

he is continually in moult; not a clean moult but a good amount of small

feathers come off and green ones take their place, changing again about

three months later to the purple colour. He is kept in a wooden box cage

with wire front, this has a sliding door, which is put in at night, with per¬

forated zinc air holes across the top so that he never gets a draught. His

food consists of sponge cake moistened with hot water and then squeezed

nearly dry, honey, Mellin’s food and condensed milk made with boiling

water. He is very fond of fruit which consists of grapes and oranges cut open

and from which he sucks the juice. He likes mealworms but above all revels

in gentles of which he will eat any quantity. The gentles, however, are

never digested but pass through the bird’s intestines and are often alive

after voiding. I have therefore stopped giving them, as food that is not

digested cannot be good. Of course Tanagers and .Sugar birds seem alike

in the way food passes through them so quickly.


The Purple Sugar Bird takes baths continually and keeps himself in

spotless condition.


Hoping these notes may be of some use.


Edith Warren Vernon.



