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received tlie following birds in the finest possible condition—

pairs of Cordons Bleus, Orange Cheeks, Grey Waxbills, Bronze

Mannikins, Combassous and two Orange Bishops (both turned

out to be males), these I kept in a large cage built in a recess in

my shop. The cage is 6ft. high, 4ft. wide, and 2ft. deep.


I soon lost the Combassous, probably because it was too

cold for them when they started moulting; but the others

.alwaj^s seemed happy and contented.


I was so pleased with my success, that I kept adding to my

stock, until I had about sixty birds altogether. I then turned

all the lumber out of an attic, and made an aviary of it in the

following simple manner.


The window, fortunately, was a very large one facing south,

so I fastened wire netting Q-in. mesh) over it on the inside, so

that I could open it for ventilation ; it was a fortunate thing for

me that I did so, for one of the sheets of glass was blown out

during a gale, and but for the wire I should have lost all my

birds. I then covered the floor with oilcloth so that I could

wash the dirt up easily, and then screwing some large branches to

the floor, the place was complete. In this room for several years

I kept the following birds—King, Pennant’s, and Bauer’s

Parrakeets, all males ; a pair of Brown-throated Conures, a pair

of Quakers, a hen Blossom-head, four pairs of Budgerigars, two

pairs of Blue-wings (Passerine Parrakeets) one pair Madagascar

and one pair Red-faced Rove-birds. I also had Java Sparrows,

Zebra Finches, all the common Waxbills ; Nuns; Orange, Oryx,

Napoleon, and Black-faced Weavers. The only casuality I had

from fighting was after one of the Blue-wing hens had died,

when the males fought for the other, and one sent his beak clean

through the skull of the other, killing him instantly. Most of

these birds bathed all the 3^ear round, some several times a day,

and although I never had artificial heat, I rarely had a death.


Many of these birds were tame enough to eat from my

hand, and the Weavers built beautiful nests, and would go on

building even while I was watching them, they were much

tamer than they were in a cage.


Besides these, I have had Nonpareils (I could never keep

these long, although I provided plenty of ants’ cocoons and

mealworms. Do they require heat ?) Cockatiels, Diamond

Sparrows (veiy pretty birds) Parson Finches, Gouldian Finches,

Barraband’s Parakeets, Blue Mountain Rories, White-eared

Conures, Rosellas and a Patagonian Conure (I only had a week



