8i



iavour of two squat unnatural looking birds (in breeding plumage

in early February): that experience sickened me finally of keep¬

ing British birds for show-purposes : natural birds are a bit off

colour now-a-days at our shows, yet I believe my Starling has

been a winner since he left my hands.


CORRESPONDENCE.



AVICULTURAL NOTES.


Sir, — The first number of the “Avicultural Magazine” published in

the new century is graced by three most interesting articles, written by

ladies, members of the Society. This is indeed a good beginning.


Lady Dunleatli mentions her Californian Quails: which reminds me

of my experience with these pretty inmates of my outdoor aviary. I had

a pair which lived in a garden aviary stocked with Canaries. The hen

Quail began to lay eggs, aud I made her a nest of sods of turf in a corner

and under cover. The cock bird was much interested in this nest and

used to sit on its rim, but the hen laid an egg daily, anywhere on the

ground, except in the nest. These eggs were daily put in the nest, which

the cock bird watched faithfully.


I forget now whether eleven or thirteen eggs were laid. But the hen

showed no inclination to sit, and one day the cock sat down on the eggs

and remained there, hatching the whole brood ; and when the chicks came

out he fed them as carefully as any lieu would do, rearing the whole lot. I

believe this case is bv no means unique, probably not even rare, but it is a

curious and pretty sight. The young Californian Quails are very small,

and run about as quickly as mice.


As food for newly-hatched birds, I found it an excellent plan to send

im* gardener into the fields to dig up an anthill and put the earth, ants,

aud larvae into a bag, which was emptied in the aviary. The old and the

3'OUng birds scratched and hunted for ants’ eggs and ants, and ate both

with great delight and advantage. For very young birds I would prefer the

yolk of fresh boiled eggs to the preserved }-olk. The latter is very good,

but the former is perhaps more digestible for the tender stomachs of newly-

hatched birds.


Writing about preserved eggs reminds me of something which may

interest some of the readers of the Magazine. I believe I am the innocent

inventor of this preserved egg-food. It happened as follows: — When the

brilliant coal-tar aniline dyes were brought out they were very costly, and

chiefly used for printing delicate flower designs on muslins, destined to be¬

come ladies’summer frocks. To thicken and fix these colours, egg albumen

was used, as being the most suitable gum and not affecting the most delicate

tints. The white of eggs, when boiled, becomes a white leather}' insoluble

mass ; but when dried at a slow heat, it becomes a very fine soluble gum,

which is pure albumen. A friend of mine bought annually millions of eggs

in Hungary, to make albumen from the white, but did not know what to

do with the yolk of the eggs. He offered it by the hundred-weight and the

ton to pastry cooks and to leather dressers; he tried to salt it, and he tried



