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Notes on my Birds.


NOTES ON MY BIRDS.


By Rosie Aederson.


I have not added many birds to my collection during the

past year or two but, on the contrary, have diminished my

numbers, as I found my aviaries were too full to allow the birds

to breed successfully; but as it is some time since I sent any

account of my birds to the Magazine, and there are many new

members since then, they may like to hear a little about my pets

and their ways. I never know quite how many birds I have,

as wdth deaths, new purchases, and young ones being bred, the

numbers are continually changing, but I suppose there are about

a hundred altogether.


To begin at the beginning, or rather to start with the

nearest aviary. This is a fair sized one—some 12 ft. wide by 18 ft.

long—it is built close to the house, one side being formed by the

end of the dining room outer wall. The front of the aviary is

open wire work down to the ground, but the side is wire only

half way down, the remaining portion being boarded. The

entrance is at this side through a porch and double door. The

greater portion of the aviary is taken up by a flight with a tiled

floor and covered with a glass roof; at the back is a wooden

shelter with a wire and wood front and a door opening into the

flight. The only occupants of this aviary are the Crowned

Cranes, a very fine pair of birds, sent over by a friend from

Nigeria. Our friend had once said, whilst on a brief holiday to

England, that he would send us some of these beautiful birds,

but we did not take the offer seriously, and so were taken quite by

surprise when one day a telegram came saying that the Cranes

were on their way. Our friend had kept these birds as pets and,

being ordered up the country 500 miles, he had not been able to

take the birds with him, so sent them home to us. He told us

later that the poor birds had a terrible journey when in charge

of the natives whilst being conveyed down to the coast. The

blacks seem to have little regard for any animal or birds feelings,

and thought it of little importance as to whether the Cranes were

carried right or wrong side up.


The birds arrived in England in January of last year, they



