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A Lover of Birds,



odd cages, placed upon collapsible shelves and over the fire-place,

containing either recent arrivals or birds that need special care.

The room is lit on dark days by three powerful electric lamps, as is

also a small adjoining room, opening into a bigger one, and where

most of the cleaning takes place, containing all hird-utensils, foods,

medicines, etc. Each of the two aviaries runs to and encloses a

French window, which being protected by wire inside as well as

outside, can be thrown wide open, during the fine season, for the

inhabitants to enjoy the air and sunshine. There are three ventila¬

tion holes, which can be open and closed at will, one on each window

and one on the ceiling. For perching accommodation I use dead

fruit trees only and branches of trees, the latter being changed at

regular intervals. The floor of the Sunbirds’ house is covered with

sawdust, which is raked up daily and at intervals thrown away and

replaced as necessity commands, for I may say here that if there is

anything I believe in, where the keeping of birds is concerned,

it is the strictest and most unceasing attention to hygiene and

cleanliness. As the whole of the room where my birds are housed

is whitewashed, dirt is easily rubbed or sponged off, and I boast

of the fact that no “ bird-smell ” prevails anywhere.


All my Sunbirds get the usual mixture of Mellin’s food,

Nestle’s milk and honey, as well as a little insectivorous food for

the few Sugar Birds who share their home ; then a variety of salads

and ripe fruit—grapes, orange, pear, apple, banana, figs, etc. twice a

week I receive fresh from the country, in addition to some big roots

of grass for my finches, Traveller’s Joy or other creeper, and this,

besides furnishing all inmates with food and amusement, forms when

being sprayed, their favourite bathing-place. They love to alight on

the wet foliage, some even seeking the spray, shaking their iridescent

plumage, throwing out their golden shoulders, rubbing and brushing

their feathers against the dripping leaves, then carefully combing

them with their slender beaks. To this, and to the more thorough

bath which they generally indulge in afterwards, in the trough pro¬

vided for the purpose, also of course to the large space given them

and which ensures them exercise, I attribute their faultless and

brilliant plumage, their happy appearance, and their almost incessant

singing. Quarrels, unfortunately, there are, as most of these species



