X. Introductory Note. 



^edrzs\s\e[t lying about; that the trays are freshly sanded, and 

 that the turf is trimmed and earth raked over; that moulted 

 feathers are picked up, and also that, as far as possible, a\\ excreta, 

 including the castings of raptorial birds, shrikes, etc., are re- 

 moved each morning. Then there are food and drinking vessels 

 to be scoured with boiling water, and no duty is more urgent 

 than this. If there is not sufficient time or sufficient money to 

 allow of this being done every day, then too many birds are being 

 kept. It is infiniteh' better to keep one pair of birds really well, 

 than any greater number in a careless way. 



Feeding. The naturalist who travels gets to know a good 

 deal of the economy of the different birds he meets with in his 

 wanderings; to learn what are their natural hours for feeding 

 and what their favourite form of food. This knowledge is all 

 to the good — he can apply it should these foreigners come into 

 his hands. But so many genera of birds, having foreign repre- 

 sentatives, are familiar to us in Great Britain that a pretty shrewd 

 guess at the habits of one foreign bird or the other may often be 

 formed by those of kindred species at home. 



Birds feed in very different ways. Birds of Prey have often 

 to hunt long for their food, and sometimes have to go entirely 

 without food for very many hours ; after they have gorged 

 themselves it may be twent\'-four hours or more before they can 

 feed again. The falconer therefore feeds his birds on this prin- 

 ciple ; he lets them at stated intervals miss one day's food 

 altogether, and then again will give them as much as they can 

 eat. Whether our aviarist keeps eagles, hawks or owls it is 

 useless to feed them until the casting from the previous meal has 

 been ejected. Birds of Prey at feeding time should always be 

 sharp-set and ready to pounce at once on the food offered to 

 them. They should never be given more than they can clear up 

 at one meal, for nothing is worse than to have stale flesh lying 

 about in the cages ; stale meat may induce ptomaine poisoning 

 and death. The food should be varied as much as possible ; the 

 changes may be rung on rats, mice, rabbit, birds, and even 

 chickens' heads. When all these fail and beef steak is resorted 

 to, some fnr or feather must be swallowed with the meat, for this 

 is very necessary to their health. Partridges, pheasants and 



