the ground, and thus were more liable to take chills. And here

yet another misfortune came in. At Benliam Park they had

evidently been kept at a far higher temperature (in a greenhouse

I understand) than I was able to give them, and the moult of

some of them, especially of the flights, seems to have suffered a

check. This may have been caused by the terribly cold journey

from the country to this house ; for, notwithstanding the care

with which they were packed up and brought to me by hand,

they looked pinched and tucked up for two or three days after

their arrival. One queer little fellow, smaller than the others,

did not progress with the moult, could not fly comfortably, and

eventually died of consumption on April 7th last, the best bird

of the four dying, likewise of consumption, five days later. This

latter I had let loose in the bird-room with a female, in the hopes

that they might pair up ; but one day she turned upon him and

drove him out into the garden (during a part of the day, if not too

cold, the window would be left a few inches open, to allow the

hardier birds egress and ingress), where I found him hiding away

in terror in a damp hole, soaked to the skin and shivering with

cold. I am not satisfied that he died from the effects of this chill ; I

slightly lean to the suspicion that the female had previously

detected weakness, an unpardonable crime in the eyes of birds of

this class, and had instinctively turned upon him to his

destruction.


This habit in some creatures of killing off the weak

and sickly members ot their respective species has often

been used as an argument in support of the “Survival of the

Fittest ” theory ; but, taken by itself, it does so only in a limited

degree. Some species are vicious and pugnacious and some are

not. A pugnacious or vindictive bird will unhesitatingly murder

its fellow, although a better bird than itself, if it can catch it at a

disadvantage, (hie of the best Shamas I ever had, in perfect

health, was murdered in my aviary just because he had indulged

too freely in a bath and was unable to defend himself. I have

noticed on several occasions, with various bellicose species, that

if there be two foes in the same aviary, neither will dare to wash

lest he might be caught by the other, for, whether it be tubbing

or moulting, they know perfectly well how completely they will

be at the mercy of their antagonist. Again, I once had a fairly

good Bluethroat ( Erithacus cyaneculus) nearly murdered (he would

have been wholly murdered had I not come to the rescue) by a

fellow Bluethroat who was dying —he was actually dead by the

next morning.



