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Miss R. Alderson



zine (New Series) page 123, you will find a few notes on this pair of

birds, so I must not go over old ground by repeating myself, but just

continue their history from where it leaves off.


Of these two birds we still have the hen, so that she has

been with us six years, and we do not know how old she was when

she came ; she has never been ill, and is a very fine bird.


Her grain food for some time now has been wheat only, and

she seems to thrive on it. Added to this, there is what she picks up

in the garden (and in the summer especially this must amount to a

good deal) and a regular supply of black-beetles.


Beetles love darkness and warmth, and are found in great

quantities down coal-pits. One of the miners catches the beetles for

us in traps, and his little children come every month for “ beetle-

money.” The contents of the traps are emptied into a shallow

dripping tin, with a little water in, and from this the beetles cannot

escape. Their troubles are short-lived, for the Cranes soon pick

them out and eat them. I think the oil in the bettles must act as a

sort of feather-tonic on the Cranes, their plumage looks so glossy.


The lien Crowned Crane, “ Lady,” bids fair to be a sort of

avian “ Bess of Hardwick,” for she has outlived two husbands, and

I have no doubt will welcome a third when we can get her one.


We have been unfortunate with our cocks. The original one

“Rex” did well for some years, then one day he was noticed to be apart

from the hen. As he was generally a perfect shadow to her, and a

slave to her every whim—and she is a real tyrant—this seemed very

strange, and we soon saw that it was not a quarrel but illness that

was the cause. The pretty pink colour in Rex’s cheeks began to

fade, and a blackish look came over the hare skin, his head and

wings drooped, and though he still came out of the aviary every day

he looked the picture of sad despair. “ Lady ” seemed purposely to

keep away from him, and if she was troubled she did not show it.

As a rule, you will find it very seldom that a sick bird is befriended

by a healthy one. The strong seem to shrink from the sick, and

leave them to their fate ; it is perhaps a law of nature and a survival

of the fittest.


One or two instances of the reverse side come into my mind

as I write. One of a hen Brush Bronze-wing Pigeon who had one



