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Mr. Frank Finn,



carriage, while laud-snails are no trouble at all: put them in a

box and they will seal themselves up away for hibernation or

“ aestivation,” its substitute in the tropical dry season. Cock¬

roaches can be got on many, perhaps most ships; the large

American sort is the usual one, and is good for feeding large

birds, the small German cockroach is, however, a nicer insect,

and does well for small birds, but I only remember getting these

on one ship. House-flies often abound in port or soon after

leaving it, and it is as well to have a few balloon fly-traps.

Crickets are also, if I remember right, numbered among ship-

insects. So, certainly, alas ! are those beastly little yellow ants,

which birds, as far as I know, won’t eat; while they will eat the

bird’s food and annoy them generally.


Mechanical digestives, like grit for ordinary, especially

seed-eating, birds, and feathers or fur for birds of prey, can be

temporarily dispensed with ; but it is best to provide them if

possible; chopped tow will do instead of fur or feather. If grit

cannot be supplied regularly it is better withheld, and the birds

weaned on to it again on landing.


Water can be dispensed with by some birds, such as Hawks,

Owls, Kingfishers, Bustards, and Horubills. but it is best to offer

it daily even to these. Others should of course have it always by

them, and in the case of waterfowl the food should be placed in

it, especially for ducks.


With all our care in housing and feeding, however, there

remains what I have previously alluded to as the most insuper¬

able difficulty in bird importation—changes in temperature on

the voyage, and especially the change from heat to cold. It is

generally colder at sea than on land, in our latitudes very much

colder; and a bird packed for shipment must necessarily be below

par in most instances, owing to insufficient exercise and food

which may not be of the most absolutely suitable character.

Moreover it may have been only recently captured, thus, even

if by nature an inhabitant of a temperate or even cold region—a

mountain bird for instance—it is not in a condition to resist cold

successfully ; and hence as much warmth and comfort as can be

secured should be a first consideration with all who import any

kind of birds. It is in the matter of cold that failure is most to



