on ike Breeding of a Hybrid Lorikeet , etc. 191


comer, approached him unseen and realised what was taking

place. The bird opened his mouth extremely wide, swelled out

his throat and, with a convulsion which shook his whole body,

emitted a high-pitched, metallic cry, far more piercing than the

screams of my Macaws, distinctly heard, as I afterwards ascer¬

tained, nearly lialf-a mile off. This cry was scarcely bell-like,

but bore a remarkable resemblance to the clanging of a hammer

on an anvil, and was repeated at short intervals in the early

mornings during the ensuing spring and summer. The voice

of this bird, with its tale of tropical forests, was as music in my

ears, but my neighbours took a less romantic view and heartily

welcomed its untimely demise.


Bell Birds are certainly unsuitable for any but a country

aviary, but they are interesting and remarkable forms, and I hope

some day to come across Waterton’s species (C. niveus) with the

long pendent caruncle, usually erroneously depicted as carried

erect, or the still more curious three carunculated species from

Central America.


3? 3.-


My Waders’ aviary is some 34 ft. long and 24 ft. wide, and

sufficiently high to enclose an apple tree and a number of shrubs.

A shallow concrete tray of water occupies the middle. The

water is a foot deep at one end, where it may be run off through

an ordinary bath plug let into the cement, and it runs out to less

than an inch deep at the other extremity. This trough has no

raised edges but slopes up almost imperceptibly into the sur¬

rounding sand, beyond which is some rough turf, renewed every

year. The trough is often allowed to overflow and reduce its

banks to a sloppy condition so that the Waders may easily

plunge their beaks therein in search of food.


The staple diet supplied to the Waders consists of fish

cuttings minced in a machine, added to an equal quantity of a

mixture of half bread and half meal (usually pollard), the whole

being stirred to a soft paste with water. On this preparation

such birds as Godwits, Knots, Curlew, Oyster Catchers and Red¬

shanks seem to thrive very well. Two years ago I introduced

half-a-dozen Black-headed Gulls into this enclosure, and they

soon began to rule the roost and proceeded to steal the eggs of



