birds. The old birds do not remove any of the excreta from the

nest, the whole accumulating in a perfectly dry odourless

condition.



THE LATE DR. RUSS


By Aug. F. Wiener.


The late Dr. Karl Russ was born 14th January, 1833,

and died on September 29th, 1899.


I was in great hope that the report of his death would turn

out to be a mistake, but I am sorry to say the great pioneer in

aviculture is really dead ; the decease of a son of his a few

weeks before his own death, having also been mentioned in the

papers, had led to some confusion.


Dr. Russ’s father was an apothecary, and brought up his

son to the same profession. The writings of Alexander von

Humboldt seem to have had a great influence on him, and an

ode to the memory of this great naturalist, published in 1859,

soon after Humboldt’s death, is probably the first literary effort

of the late Dr. Russ.


Early in the sixties numerous well-written articles on

Natural History subjects appeared in the German press, and

quickly attracted attention to their author, Dr. Karl Russ.


Birds soon became the favourite subject of his writings,

and the rapid diminution of song birds in Central Europe

attracted his attention. He traced the growing scarcity of song

birds to three causes.


( 1) . The more intense cultivation of the soil, making

suitable breeding spots more scarce, against which little more

can be done, than to educate farmers and peasants to the view

that birds are very useful, and that their wanton destruction is

bound to do harm to the agriculturist.


(2) . The regular capture and consumption of millions of

migratory birds in Italy and Southern France. To Dr. Russ’s

writings are due several efforts to arrange international agree¬

ments for the protection of migratory song birds.


(3) . The trade of the bird catcher for supplying the

market with so-called pets and European cage birds. The bird

catcher, where he is allowed to ply his trade, is everywhere the

worst enemy of our feathered friends. It may be taken for

granted that out of one hundred caught European wild birds

scarcely one will endure long in confinement.



