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Miss E. Alderson,



reasons that a box is better than a cage, for the carriage would be

more than the returned cage was worth. When a bird arrives by

train be sure and put “ not examined ” as well as your signature

on the charge sheet. Unless you do this the Eailway Company

disclaim responsibility if anything is wrong.


And now as to sending birds away. The same rule applies

as to notice beforehand as to what day and by what train you are

sending the bird by, and also add what you have fed it on.


I prefer to send birds by night if possible, unless the weather

is very cold. For one reason there is less traffic by night, and for

another as it is the natural time for the bird to fast it will not

matter much if it is too nervous to eat on the journey.


If the bird you are sending is from an aviary it is best to

catch it up fairly early in the afternoon, and to cage it till nearer

the train time. It is a mistake to enter an aviary, especially to do

any catching, after the birds are settling down for the night.


It is better to use an ordinary wooden box for travelling

rather than a travelling cage with a wire front. The former needs

no paper covering but the latter does, and the railway people will

always tear the paper “to see if the bird is all right,” but more I

think from a pardonable curiosity to see what is inside. The paper

torn, can you wonder that the bird takes cold ? and perhaps reaches

you only to die. A proper ventilated box is much better and safer

than a cage, and there is no difficulty about removing the bird if you

act as previously suggested.


The box must be a suitable one. I remember once receiving

some tiny birds from a dealer, who should have known better, packed

in a shallow chocolate box with no perch. The poor little birds

having no grip on anything, and doubtless having been badly shaken

about, arrived in wretched condition. Then again, I once had a

number of little birds sent to me without anything in the travelling

cage to allay their thirst; some were dead when they arrived, and I

think about one only survived. Birds suffer more from thirst than

from hunger, and to be without fluid for twenty-four hours means

probably death. This is not surprising when you think that a man

can live forty days without solid food if he has liquid, but stop the

liquid entirely and he will die of thirst very quickly, ten days being



