106 On the Influence of German Aviculture.


I subsequently built a small outdoor bird-room heated by

water-pipes and with all sides of glass, which was much more

successful. Quails, Quail-Finches, and Lark-Finches were quite at

home in it, and Whitethroats, Garden-Warblers, and Orphean

Warblers sang well in it in the winter. I have now rebuilt this

little house, converting half of it into an aquarium and the other half

into flights for Softbills. I daresay that it will be something else

before long, for the writer is an incorrigible experimentalist.


My indoor bird-room, however, after many transformations, is

in a final and finished state. It is now a song-bird-room. A large

(6x6 ft.) window has been fitted, and a hot-water radiator; a glass

sky-light (for better ventilation) has been inserted in the ceiling. It

contains one large flight, three small flights, and several large cages. I

have had as many as four Nightingales singing at one time in it, and

last spring with two Nightingales, two Orange Ground-Thrushes, a

Woodlark and several Linnets, I probably had as wonderful bird-

music as one is at all likely to hear in this very imperfect world.


The Bechstein Era.


As the eighteenth century drew to its close, we note a great

increase of popularity in aviculture in Germany. Dr. Bechstein’s

book—probably the first work on the subject in which there was order

and method and a scientific point of view—had a great reception and

quickly ran through three editions. The Germans began to show

great skill in handling insectivorous birds; Bechstein tells us that he

knew several amateurs who always had one or two Wrens caged or

Hying in the bird-room. Sixty-six species of foreign birds are

described in his work, and he apologises for the non-inclusion of

many other foreign species, which were to be seen in maritime towns

in Germany, on the ground that he bad had no opportunity of person¬

ally studying them.


But let us note that they did not overdo it. The worthy

Doctor informs us that, though he had a “ passion ” for birds, he kept

only thirty. We could all mention aviculturists who have not been

satisfied with less than three hundred, and some have kept a thousand t


(To be continued.)



