is


number of my little birds dead on the floor. I thought the

heat of between 50 and 55 0 F., which my self-registering

thermometer indicated as minimum, had been insufficient. The

boiler was thereupon driven to its utmost capacity and the

temperature raised a few degrees, but that did not in the least

diminish the mortality. 1 could not understand why birds,

which were perfectly well one day, should be found dead the

next morning in perfect plumage. When I began to dissect the

dead bodies I soon found the cause, and a little reflection pointed

out the remedy.


The crops of my dead pets were invariably empty : they

evidently had died from exhaustion and hunger in an aviary

with plenty of food in view. A visit to my aviary at dawn

confirmed what I suspected. When the birds woke up hungry,

the stronger ones took possession of the food dishes and drove

away the weaker and smaller kinds. The latter came to grief,

not from cold, but from want of sufficient food during the very

long nights of a London winter.


All birds digest and assimilate their food very rapidly.

Finches of the size of a Canary cannot survive want of food for

twenty-four hours. I found that the smaller a bird is, the

greater becomes the amount of food he requires in proportion to

his own weight to sustain life and strength. No cage bird, at

least no finch, feeds in the dark. The small exotic finches

coming from the Tropics, where all the year round the length of

the night does not vary very much, their organism could endure

a fast of about twelve hours, but not a London December ni ght

of sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen hours.


Thereupon I purchased as many petroleum lamps with tin

reflectors as I had compartments in my aviary containing small

exotic birds. These lamps I placed outside the cages in such a

position that the light was thrown all night on the food-dishes,

whilst the favourite sleeping-perches of the birds were near the

roof and to some extent in the shade. After this, when a bird

felt hungry at night, he saw where food could be found, flew

down, had a good feed, and returned to his sleeping-place in the

shade.


This very simple arrangement arrested the mortality in a

very remarkable manner, and from that day I had practically no

losses (d). I had even the pleasure of seeing a pair of Brazilian



[d) I have also found this plan, if not essential, at all events most beautiful to our

British summer migrants, especially by the soft-billed species.—J.L.B.



