6



food, was killed at the Crystal Palace through having scraped raw meat

and bread supplied to it: previous to that time it had never had a day’s

illness, but was a marvel of vivacity, tameness and cleanliness.


In the breeding - season two cock Wagtails, of different species,

invariably fight in an aviary; and unless separated, the stronger (not

always the larger) will infallibly starve the weaker to death, by incessantly

driving him from the food-dislies. I even lost a favourite hen Grey

Wagtail two or three years ago, owing to the persecutions of a male Pied

Wagtail. This summer again, I was obliged to remove my Yellow Wagtail

to a cage to prevent his destroying a very beautiful cock Grey Wagtail. At

the Zoological Gardens the Grey and Pied Wagtails have been successfully

crossed: probably the hen bird was the Pied ; if not, the male bird must

have been an especially amiable individual.


My experience of British birds as aviary pets, leads me to the

following conclusions:—All finches must either be kept in a large open

garden aviary, as nearly as possible under the same conditions to which

they would be subject when at large; or, they must be kept during the

winter at a high temperature, indoors. They are far more susceptible to

changes of temperature when in captivity than the majority of foreign

finches. It is rare for Goldfinches, Bullfinches, Linnets, and especially

Siskins, to live in a limited, unheated, though enclosed, aviary for more than

eighteen months. Indeed I have found some of the small Indian, Austra¬

lian, and even African and South American Ornamental-finches, decidedly

more hardy under these conditions.


On the other hand, many Insectivorous British birds appear to be

indifferent to temperature, provided that they can be supplied with a fair

quantity of inseCt-food throughout the year.


Budgerigars seem to be subject to the same influences as British

finches; they will stand cold well, but not in a covered-iu aviary: yet in a

flight-cage open only in front, and kept at a moderate temperature, they

live for years. Blossom-headed Parrakeets, on the other hand, have so far

done well in the same aviary which killed the majority of my Budgerigars :

indeed, whereas twelve out of thirteen young birds of the latter species

died within two or three months after leaving the nest, a young male

Blossom-head, born this year in the same log-nest, is larger and apparently

more vigorous than its parents.


The preceding observations must, nevertheless, be understood gener¬

ally; not as applying to every individual of a species : thus, for several years

I repeated^ tried to keep the Cordon Bleu in my Ornamental-finch aviary ;

but always lost every individual, either within a few weeks or at best in two

or three months. At length, I purchased two pairs, in 1892, and turned one

pair into the same aviaiy, the other into a flight-cage ; the hen of the first

pair lived about three months, that in the cage a little over a }^ear; but

both cock-birds are in perfect health as I write, having passed through

two winters, at a temperature never lower than 46 degrees Falir., but rarely

exceeding 50 degrees.


It has been frequently stated that, in flight-cages, the Amaduvade

Waxbills, as well as Cordon Bleus, are liable to baldness. This is, without

question, due to the fact that the birds pull out one another’s feathers; a

trick to which the Green Amaduvade is much addicted. In a large aviary,

on the contrary, all these birds are usually in magnificent feather ; though

in the case of Stictospiza fonnosa, a spiteful unpaired hen will sometimes

make herself objectionable by pulling out her companions’ feathers; or

specimens which have long been naturalized in the aviaiy will simul¬

taneously surround and pluck a new-comer, more especially when the

latter is somewhat rough in plumage. For this reason, as well as from the

inexplicable fact that, after several years of uninterrupted health, these

lovely little birds will suddenly and unaccountably be found dead (though

subsequent dissection shows all their organs apparently healthy) the Green

Avadavats, or Amaduvades, are somewhat aggravating aviary pets. Mr.

Abrahams considers them delicate ; but I think this is not the real cause of

their death : a bird which can stand twelve degrees of frost and be none



