Correspondence, Notes, etc .



309



Dr. Butler would kiudlv give her some advice about a Virginian

Nightingale (scarlet). It has lived on the Riviera some years and is not at

all young. It moulted well in February. It had not been specially suitably

fed ere Miss Hammond received him as a present, and she gave him one

or two mealworms a day, and he sings most beautifully, which he had not

done for a year or two. She brought him to England some six weeks ago,

and he had not been here a fortnight before he went into moult again,

skin very white. He seems only to have moulted on his head, otherwise

he seems to be in perfect health and spirits [and song. His food now is

Abrahams’ food, canary seed, fruit, and millet branch. Is this right

feeding? He bathes freely—but his head is almost bare of feathers.


The Jollowing reply has been sent to the Hon. Katherine Hammond :


There is no doubt that the Cardinal which you have is suffering from

what is known as “surfeit,” a disease which is due to incorrect feeding,

and which invariably results in the untimely loss of feathers from the

head.


The cure for this, in a bird the size of a Virginian Cardinal, would be

to give, for one day, six grains of Epsom salts and an equal quantity of

chlorate of potash, in the drinking water ; to let the bird have plenty of

fresh green food (chickweed and groundsel for preference), and the proper

food. Anoint the bare part of the head with vaseline.


Your feeding would, I think, be improved by the addition of

whole oats and sunflower seeds. I would not recommend you to add

maize and hemp-seed (as recommended in my little book—“ Foreign Bird

Keeping”), because both are somewhat heating for a bird with an unhealthy

skin.


It is important that Virginian Cardinals should not be subjected to

great heat; as, if kept too warm, they are liable to apoplexy. A cool shady

room, or an outdoor aviary, suits them best.


A. G. Butler.


THE SEX OF PEKIN NIGHTINGALES.


Sir,—I cannot agree with Dr. Butler’s opinion that the sexual

differences in the colouring of Pekin Nightingales “ are so slight.”


The truth is that the males of this species are nowadays extremely

scarce in England. Quantities of these birds are imported by the large

dealers, but they are not infrequently all females! I have purchased so-

called pairs from two noted bird-dealers (one in London and one elsewhere)

everyone of which were hen birds, and in wretched condition too! Amongst

perhaps fifty to a hundred hen birds, supposing one is choosing them in the

shop, there are naturally some individuals that are brighter in colouring

than others, and these (at first sight) one is apt to select as males, and the

duller coloured birds as females.



