Hints about Aviaries.



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other materials ; and for doves and pigeons, the finer twigs of spruce,

etc., as well as heather bents are acceptable.


Only one pair of certain species of birds should be kept in an

aviary, for instance those of the Thrush family. Doves also are

very pugnacious, disturbing each other dreadfully, if several breed¬

ing pairs are kept together.


I believe that quite small aviaries with, for example, one pair

of Blue Birds, or Orange-headed Ground Thrushes, or Shamahs,

etc., etc. are preferable, giving much more chance of success in

breeding than where there are a lot of birds of various species

mixed together, unless an aviary be very spacious, with plenty of

nesting places for all.


Parrot Finches are better alone, but several pairs can be kept

together', so long as they are in pairs, and the same thing applies to

the Australian Grassfinches; except perhaps in the case of the

Crimson Finch, which can make itself extremely disagreeable, mili-

tantly breaking its neighbours’ windows, destroying their homes,

and generally interfering with other people’s affairs ! ! But Crimson

Finches are not the only two-legged creatures that behave in this

vulgar and blatant manner !


Tutto il mondo e paese, as the Italians say, which, being in¬

terpreted, is “ All the world is one country ” ; the naughty tempers

and bad habits to be found in ourselves, are also innate within our

aviaries ! Only we humans are worse, for at any rate birds are

total abstainers, with a few exceptions, and then they only break

through their rule through human influence, as once happened when

Bishop Wilberforce — the famous Bishop of Oxford as was—tempted

a Blue-fronted Amazon to sip port wine [I remember the incident

vividly when quite a small boy] with the consequence that the

Parrot ended by reeling about the dinner table, much to everyone’s

amusement, not excluding the Bishop’s. Whether it was the result

of the port wine, I know not, but not very long after, that Parrot

laid an egg !


It is advisable to place the food in a tray-like open box, with

sides about three or four inches high, so that seeds, etc. are not

littered about. I have these trays lined with zinc, so that they

can be scalded out at times.



