30



recovered and lived for many years : whereas, in nine cases out of ten, they

would not have survived many weeks.


Then again, all birds are not equally hardy; some of them, as for

instance the Mannikins, most of the Australian Grass-finches, the Ribbon

and Saffron-finches, the Weavers, some of the little Grosbeaks, and the

Indian Waxbills are more healthy and live longer under cool, than under

warm treatment; whereas, imported African Waxbills, Pintailed Nonpareils,

Gouldian Finches, and some of the South American finches, require more

warmth at the outset, and careful watching: nevertheless, it does not

therefore follow that their offspring cannot be brought up in a temperature

which will render them more vigorous than their parents, provided that the

aviarist be careful and patient in selecting his pairs for breeding purposes.


Is it not true that our most trying climate has produced a race which

has overrun the earth ? Then again, is it not equally true that the effect of

heated rooms upon some of the varieties of the Canary has unquestionably

resulted in birds liable to succumb to all diseases to which flesh is heir,

birds with constitutions so broken down by incessant pampering, that their

lives hang on the most gossamer-like of threads ? Yet, under proper treat¬

ment for a few generations, even Canaries can be, and are, rendered so

robust, that they are enabled to resist the most severe winters in open-air

aviaries ; provided that they are protected against the north-easterly winds.

An example fresh from the German or Norwich hot-houses, if subjected

suddenly to far less trying conditions, develops tubercle immediately ; just

as a Gouldian-finch, fresh from Northern Queensland, often does. The

acclimatization of all birds with delicate constitutions must therefore, of

necessity, be a gradual process.


I should judge that the first step in the acclimatization of delicate

birds would be, to turn them at first into a moderately heated aviary; and,

at the approach of warm weather, to let them out into a second, open to

the air. In the latter they should be encouraged to breed, and the

resulting offspring, at the approach of cold weather, should be placed again

in an enclosed aviary having a lower temperature than that to which their

parents had originally been consigned. Year by year each succeeding

generation might thus be gradually hardened, until eventually they were

rendered sufficiently vigorous to dispense with artificial heat. Thus, by

getting rid of the original delicate stock and only retaining the sturdiest for

breeding purposes, it seems reasonable to believe that a strong race might

be built up.


When we know, and this I have personally proved in several in¬

stances, that stove plants may be grown more vigorously and produce

better flower-spikes under coo! than under hot treatment, it is surely not

presumptuous to believe that tropical birds may also, with proper attention,

be brought into a like condition of robustnesss.



OUR BIRD-ROOMS AND AVIARIES

III.


A BIRD-ROOM FOR FINCHES.


By H. R. Firmer.


Mr. Pliillipps has described a bird-room chiefly adapted for the

requirements of large soft-billed birds; Mr. Camps has shown us how a

large collection of Parrots should be housed ; now it is the turn of the

small fry : the little birds, which are certainly kept by a greater number of

aviculturists than are the larger species.


I keep foreign Fringilloid birds only. I quite admit that Parrots and

Insectivorous birds are more easily tamed, and more amusing; but the noise

of the one, and the smell of the other, make them equally unsuitable for my

very small bird-room, and, moreover, I could not spare time to give that

constant and careful attention which they (especially the soft-billed birds)

require.



