Correspondence, Notes, etc.



245



caught seventeen dozen Redpolls, a day’s walk outside of the

town. Larks (English — natives have died out) — we reckon

we do well if we get orders at 10/- a dozen, more often 6/- ;

Chaffinches any quantity ; Greenfinches ditto ; Hedge Sparrows

the same. Thrushes and Blackbirds—we can get nothing for

them. The same applies to Yellow-hammers, Buntings, and

Grey Linnets.”



PASSERINE PARROTS AND NIGHTINGALE.


Sir, —I bought a pair of health}’ Blue-winged Love-birds about three

months ago. One went all bare on the head and has died, the other looks

as if it was going to start going bare 011 its head too. Is it a catching

disease ? because I wanted to turn it out into the aviary in a few weeks.

I have a Nightingale too that won’t sing, I have had it since November; it

is healthy and in perfect feather. It has little tiny growths at the edge of

its beak where it opens, but they do not seem to affect it at all. It has all

the appearance of a cock bird, but never utters a note. Food : best ants’

eggs, hard-boiled egg, mealworms, Abrahams’ and Century Food No. 1.


M. C. Hawke.


The following reply has been sent to the Ho 7 ible. M. C. Hawke:


It is possible that the birds may be victims to “surfeit” so-called,

which generally affects the feathers of the head. The cure for this is to add

five grains of Epsom salts and the same quantity of chlorate of potash to

the drinking-water for one day only, to give plenty of green food if the

birds will accept it, and to give the most simple seed-diet. I give two parts

white millet to one part of canary, and a few whole oats (I am not sure that

all examples eat the oats, but I have known them to be eaten).


Again, it is possible that parrot-lice may be the cause of the trouble,

but it is not probable, because these pests generally attack the butts of the

wings, back, and breast, but not the head. Spraying with quassia, or

repeated powdering with Keating’s Insect-powder, are the best remedies.


I should say that your Nightingale is either rather backward, being a

young bird, or it is hand-reared, or it may be a hen. The food you give

could not be improved upon, and if the bird is a wild-caught cock-bird, I

should confidently look forward to its singing later.


Nightingales never quite lose; the so-called “ waxy-skiu ” or expanded

margins, towards the base of the cutting-edges of the mandibles, which

are characteristic of baby birds: possibly, therefore, the growths you speak

of may only be this natural expansion of the edges.



A. G. Buteer.



