A Walk Round My Aviaries. 85 



chuckle," of the Reeves' and his wives, who generally 

 have a word to say whenever their lord speaks. Then 

 my true pheasants (Phasianus colchicus] from the 

 Caucasus crow ; their note is not so loud or so defiant 

 as that of their English brothers, but probably when 

 older it will be deeper. The screeching note of the 

 Amherst is mostly heard towards evening, and that 

 of the Gold at all hours ; both these have most dis- 

 cordant voices : as with most birds, the gaudier their 

 plumage the harsher their voice. 



Now come with me and look at some of these 

 aviaries. In No. i (which was for many years occu- 

 pied by Old Amherst, from whom I bred a very large 

 number of birds each year, and whose skin has now 

 gone to the Natural History Museum, South Ken- 

 sington), there is now a fine young Amherst, a de- 

 scendant of the old bird, and it is a pleasure to see 

 how elegantly he manages his splendid long tail, so 

 coveted by salmon fishers. As I enter the aviary, 

 and give him and his quietly-dressed* wife some hemp 

 seed or lettuce, they are not in the least afraid of 

 me, provided I wear my old keeper's coat, for, if 

 dressed differently, they at once know it. 



In the next three aviaries are Elliots. They are 

 not so tame, and spend most of their time in endea- 

 vouring to fight each other through the boarded par- 

 titions ; they flap their wings* in a different way to 

 most birds, doing it continuously and very rapidly, 

 as the Swinhoes do ; but this only occurs early in the 

 breeding season, when they also spread their tails fan 



