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GOLDEN PHEASANTS WITH QUAILS ; WINTERING

BLACKCAPS, ETC.


Sir, — I see from some of your past issues that one of our members —

Mr. Rotliera (*) — kept his Golden Pheasants with Quails — Californian and

Chinese — and many other small aviary birds. Would this be practicable in

a well-planted aviary fifty-seven feet long and about six feet wide ? Would

there be any danger of the Pheasants killing birds smaller than themselves?


Are there any instances of the successful wintering out-of-doors of

Blackcaps, Redstarts, and Gouldians ? G. C. PORTER.



7 he following reply w<is sent to Mr. Porter :


I have not tried the experiment of keeping Golden Pheasants and

Quails together, and therefore cannot speak with certainty. I am inclined

to think that in an aviary of the size you describe it would be safe. Cock

Golden Pheasants vary immensely in disposition. I have had most harm¬

less cocks which never touched any other Pheasant. I have had at least

one which, in the nesting season, has scalped and even killed his own hens,

and other Pheasants left with him, but not in so large an aviary as yours;

and since I have constructed my large Pheasantries, with hedges and shrubs

and small trees in them, such disasters have almost entirely ceased.


O. E. Cress we ee.



I have been told of a Blackcap having been successfully wintered

out-of-doors. Personally, I should be exceedingly sorry to put a Blackcap

to so severe a trial, through which it could scarcely pass unscathed, even in

an exceptionally well-sheltered aviary. Moreover, some of the Blackcaps

in confinement in this country come from the continent, and seem to be

decidedly less robust than our own summer migrants.


Redstarts and Gouldians are delicate as regards temperature, and to

attempt to keep them out of doors through an English winter would, in

my opinion, be an act of cruelty. — R. P.



PENN A NT'S PARRAKEET.


Sir, —Would yon kindly give me advice as to the treatment of my

Pennant Parrakeet ? I have had him over a year, and when purchased he

was in brilliant plumage. Last August he began to moult, lost all liis

bright colour, and still continues very shabby — not like the same bird. He

came from an outdoor aviary, and had been fed on oats, hemp, and canary-

seed. I have given the same, with the addition of a little “ Hyde’s Parrot

Food.” The bird seems in perfect health, eyes bright, and very active;

bathes two or three times a week. He has plenty of wood to bite up, and

a bit of rock salt in his cage. lie lives with a Yellow-rumped Parrakeet,

and is always lively and bright; but his plumage is very shabby. I don’t

know what to give him in the moult. M. HamieTON.



See Vols. II., III., and VI., pp. 6, 32, and 101, respectively.—R. 1‘.



