4



the Society must be self-supporting if it is to continue to exist. I

calculate that if we can secure a membership of from 140 to 150, the success

of the Society is assured, and there will be 110 deficit for me to make up at

the end of the year. It will be seen that we start with 52 members ; we

want therefore 100 new ones, and I appeal to all to do their utmost to

increase our numbers. If we have a large membership we shall be able to

have a large Magazine, and shall be in a position to extend our cause in

various other ways. But if our list of members remains small, we cannot

afford to print more than eight pages per month, and shall be prevented

from extending the usefulness of the Society by other means.


I shall not be satisfied until we number 200.


Members who wish for extra copies of this first .number for distri¬

bution amongst their friends, can have them on application, at one penny

per copy. This charge is merely made to cover postage.


Horatio R. Fieemer,


Hon. Treasurer.



ON AVICULTURE IN AVIARIES.


By Arthur G. Butter, Ph.D., F.R.S., etc.


The study of birds in aviaries (I am not speaking of flight cages, but

such as are large enough for the owners to walk about in) is in many

respects, far more satisfactory than when they are confined even in large

cages. Of this fact I can speak from experience ; because, when I com¬

menced to keep birds, my space was limited ; so that my largest “ aviary ”

was then actually little more than a long flight cage, only two feet six in

height and one foot four inches from front to back: in length, this cage

was not so bad — about ten feet; but nevertheless, for breeding purposes, it

was of little practical use, on account of its narrowness, which brought the

birds too close to the observer.


When my present house was built, 1 had seven aviaries constructed,

all of them under cover : of these, four are kept at a moderately warm

temperature during the winter ; the other three are unheated. I have now

added two open garden aviaries, with a door of communication from one

to the other, and each of them measuring eleven feet six inches in length,

four feet six. inches from front to back, and from about seven to eight feet

in height (the roof sloping forwards). At first, my unheated aviaries were

permanently open on one side to the air, throughout the year; but the

through draught caused, when the door into my garden was opened, proved

very prejudicial to the health of some of the birds, more especially to

British species, such as Din nets, Goldfinches and Siskins ; therefore, I

eventually had sashes made (which could at any time be removed) so as to

exclude draught.


To attain much success in breeding, each aviary should be plentifully

supplied with various forms of receptacles for nests, and when possible

these should be more or less concealed by thick bushes : dead furze-bushes

perhaps make the best cover ; but if these are not procurable, branches of

fir answer the purpose fairly well. Pea sticks nailed against the walls

make convenient elastic perches, and when used in quantity, help a little

to conceal the roughness of nest-boxes.


In the case of the well-known receptacle described by Herr Wiener, as

of the cigar-box pattern, it is always best to give the builders a start by

ramming two or three handfuls of liay into the bottom before hanging it

up : the actual nest is then much more easily and rapidly 7 completed, than

when the architects have first to form their own foundation ; while the

appearance of nesting-material in the box gives the birds a hint as to what

is expected of them.


From a study of the works of Dr. Russ, I am convinced that when

many birds of different species are kept in the same aviary, it is necessary



