77



DRIED FLIES.


Sir, —In the December number you gave your experience of your

birds’ non-appreciation of dried flies when mixed with other food, and their

refusal of it when given by itself.


Some time ago one of our members wrote about dried flies, and I

wrote him for the address of the vendor ; on his reply I wrote for some.

The bag was put in a corner of the dining-room, and I had forgotten about

it, when there arose a most dreadful smell of stale fish. Until the little

Blenheim Spaniel had scented “game ” and scratched the bag over, I could

not make out where the smell came from. It proved to be the dried flies.

Can they be collected from fish in a state of decomposition ? (cj .


Only keeping Waxbills and small Finches, I have given the flies

in a dry state. On my leaving home for three weeks, a couple of seed-

glasses were filled, and on my return they were empty. Whether the flies

had been eaten, or partly eaten and wasted, like birds will do at times in

throwing out their seed, I can’t say. To those who have an outdoor aviary,

where the smell would not be so objectionable, they could be added for

change of diet, but for cage-birds the smell would alwaj’s be a drawback.


As a substitute for insects, when they are unattainable, in my opinion

there is no food to equal Abrahams’ preserved yolk of egg, which I have

used for twenty years ; but when he first sent it out it was labelled

“ Hofmeier’s.”


W. T. Cattuugh.



MADAGASCAR WEAVER.


Sir,— Your foot-note to my letter on the Madagascar Weaver in the

January number raises a question on which I should be glad to have the

experience of other members. I mentioned that the one I have had now

close upon two years killed another which was out of health, this consti¬

tuting it, in your opinion, a dangerous companion for other birds. I am

afraid I conveyed a wrong impression in using the word “ killed,” I should

have been more precise in saying “harried it to death.” It must be

remembered that the two birds were at the time in a cage only 30 x 16 ins.

One was the perfection of health, the second a newly-bought one which

turned out to be only in feeble health, otherwise it might have withstood

the persecution of its companion.


But the question I . wish to ask is—Is it not a common experience

that birds, especially males, are often unkind to, and intolerant of, ailing

members of their own species ? During my first six months of bird¬

keeping, I had all my birds in a large cage in a living-room and, of course

watched them intently every day, and our attention was soon directed to

the heartless treatment accorded by a strong healthy Common Weaver to his

ailing little spouse, which he would not allow to nestle on a perch for long

without giving it an ill-natured peck. Some of us positively wept when

our first bird-vidlim succumbed like a little martyr. Alas, a cold heap of

feathers is now tossed into the garden with scarcely a sigh. Later on, we


( c) The insects have nothing- whatever to do with fish ; their similar life seems

to give them a similar smell, which undoubtedly is extremely unpleasant.—A.G.B.


Is not the smell caused by the small fish to be found in considerable numbers mixed

with the dried flies ?— E)d.



