84



As it was in the beginning.



also wedded to the study of birds in freedom, our contributors have

sent in some valuable material under this head; others give purely

scientific articles of absorbing interest; others, again, have studied

that most important matter of all—the influence of birds on the

crops. The Magazine, in fact, like all other journals of permanent

value, has advanced with the times. “ We bring the world before

you ” aviculturally “ far as creation’s bounds extend.”


This, then, is the up-to-date spirit of the new aviculture; any

other would have been as cramped and confined as the birds it

professed to study.


It is therefore with much pleasure that the Editor announces

as a novelty a number in the old style, to appear next month. All

the features, as far as possible, that appeared in pre-war days will

once more for a brief moment crowd the avicultural stage. Thus,

Lieut. Delacour will write on the Cologne Zoo after the armistice ;

Mr. Finn will give us a paper on Herons; there will be an article on

African Waxbills, and another on the chief aviary in a well-known

Zoological Garden. The correspondence column, so long closed for

urgent reasons of economy, will reappear with interesting features;

even the review will be largely avicultural. The illustrations are not

yet chosen, though it is probable that one photograph at least will

be taken from the fine collection presented to the Society by

Commander Rotch, whose work has already often appeared in the

Magazine.


Thus will the dry bones of the avicultural Dodo be once more

clothed with muscle and skin and feathers—in our March issue the

spirit of the old aviculture will live again. G. R.



