Correspondence.



127



RUSTY-CHEEKED BABBLERS.


SIR,—This extraordinary mild Christmas has had the effect of making a

good many of my birds think of nesting. In my largest aviary a pair of Rusty¬

cheeked Babblers have constructed a nest in their shelter in a dead larch. The

nest is a very large one, measuring 18 inches across and 6 inches in depth. In

appearance it resembles an extra large and rather untidy Blackbird’s nest. The

material used was almost entirely the roots and leaves of the artichoke, of which

plant a good many were growing in the aviary last summer. These Babblers

are quite the most interesting birds I have. They are extremely active and make

constant use of their long scimitar-shaped bills in turning over sods, etc., and

digging for worms and other insects. A very curious feature connected with them

is their call note. The male has a very fluty whistle of two notes, and the female

whistles one note only and has a higher pitched one than the males. When the

male calls, the female instantly answers, so that the three notes are continuous.

In fact, for a long time I thought that all three notes proceeded from the same

bird. I have never heard either whistle separately.


Their other song is an inharmonious chatter chiefly used when

frightened or angry. I have great hopes that these birds will lay and bring up

young. Should they do so, I shall hope to send you full particulars, as I under¬

stand that they have not so far been bred in this country.


Wm. Shore Baily.


January 14th, 1913.



AVICULTURE AND HEALTH.


SIR,—I read in The Standard a short time ago a notice on the subject of

injury to health from bird-keeping, and the multitudes of disease-germs

scattered abroad merely by a pet canary shaking itself. It seems to me to be a

matter of extreme importance to Aviculturists, and we should take the warning

to heart by observing the most scrupulous cleanliness in the case of our

feathered friends, both for their sake and our own, and letting them have as little

house atmosphere as possible. Cages can be kept quite wholesome if washed

every day regularly, with a little Condy’s fluid in the water, and every other day

fresh sand and earth thickly laid on the zinc or tin floor of the cage, not merely

sprinkled on it. I do not suppose that really careful bird-keeping—in cages and

aviaries—injures health, but one can readily imagine the reverse. A bird that

bathes in fresh water every day can surely disseminate very few disease-germs !

On the other hand, anyone who keeps a bird in a wretched little cage with no

means of bathing properly, and the perches and floor of the cage seldom if ever

cleaned, is courting disease, and in the interests of the campaign against tuber¬

culosis, this sort of bird-keeping ought to be strictly prohibited by law. A cage

that is kept as clean as one’s house should be, can be no vehicle for disease. It

would be well if the attention of the Sanitary Authorities were turned to the



