8



MY AVIARIES AND THEIR INMATES.


By R. A. Todd.


(second paper).


In the Avicultural Magazine for April, 1895, I described

my first experiments in aviculture ; I now propose to give some

of my further experiences.


I soon found that, with limited time at one’s disposal,

soft-billed birds are a pradtieal impossibility, owing to the

amount of cleaning and preparation of food necessary. I, there¬

fore, decided to confine my attention to seed-eaters, of which

there is a sufficient variety to absorb the interest of the most

ardent aviculturist.


My next alteration was to do away with cages. Instead of

these, I have now in my bird-room three aviaries, each 15 feet

long and about 4^- feet wide. The centre aviary is 5J feet

high, but the roof being a span, the side ones slope down to

about 3 feet. The want of height is unfortunate, but could not

be avoided as the aviaries had to be built above the existing iron

staging. There is room left for two or three cages, which I only

use for acclimatizing and testing new birds.


The centre aviary is devoted to Weavers: the rarest

occupant is probably the Red-collared Whydah ; but I have

lately received from Mr. Swaysland a bird which, I think, must

be Urobrachya bocagii, a probably rarer species. I have, besides,

the Yellow-backed Whydah, Yellow - shouldered, Baya, Oryx

and Crimson-crowned Weavers, as well as the more usual species.

There is, of course, a certain amount of bickering among these

rather pugnacious birds, but the}" never seem to fight seriously.


Dr. Russ recommends giving aloe fibre to Weavers for

their nests. In the only form I have been able to procure it, the

fibres are firmly united in places by remaining parts of the pulp

of the leaf, and seem, besides, unsuitable on account of their

extreme fineness. A better material is a kind of raffia, which is

easily split up into strips of appropriate width and length ; my

birds are also fond of a long-leaved grass slightly faded. My

Weavers have never yet completed a satisfactory structure;

they seem to prefer pilfering each other’s nests to obtaining their

supplies honestly from the material placed at their disposal. The

Red-billed and Russ’are certainly the most satisfactory builders; the

species of Pyromelana are too much addicted to weaving aimless

masses of fibre between the wires of the aviary instead of on the

branches provided for that purpose. Madagascar and Comoro



