Favourite Foreign Birds. 



we meet with over here are natives. What a con- 

 trast, for instance, between the orange groves of 

 Florida, or the palm-covered slopes of Western 

 Africa, and our own country, where vegetation is 

 dormant for half the year, and the trees are so 

 many leafless skeletons from November to March or 

 April ! What a contrast, too, between the warmth of 

 the same regions and the cold, damp, and fog of our 

 native isles ! So great, indeed, that one is compelled 

 to wonder how birds indigenous to the former can 

 ever be sufficiently acclimatised to live, and even to 

 thrive, in the latter. Yet such is the case, and in 

 the following pages I propose passing in review some 

 of the different species of exotic birds which I have 

 found adapt themselves most readily to their new 

 surroundings in confinement. 



The passion for bird-keeping which, by the way, is 

 steadily on the increase among us usually has its 

 origin in very humble beginnings; but it rapidly gains 

 strength, and before long experiments are made and 

 investments ventured on that, without preparation, 

 would at one time have filled the soul of the adven- 

 turous aviarist with apprehension and awe. 



Some writer has called the birds "the fairest of 

 all God's creatures," and I think he is not far wrong. 

 But, much as I admire our own native races, I must 

 confess to a preference for the birds that are 

 brought to us from foreign parts. True, the latter 

 have not, as a rule, such musical talents as our 

 own ; but, from whatever cause, they adapt themselves 

 much more readily to a life in confinement, in which 

 they never, unless out of health, wear that look of 



