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Dr. A. G. Butler,



examples. I have not found any of the true Thrushes ill-natured

towards the smaller birds.


Of Chats I have kept the European Wheatear, the South

African Mountain Chat, the Whinchat, the Stonechat, and Redstart,

all of them amiable birds which can be safely trusted in an aviary

with finches. I also found the American Blue-bird (Blue Robin)

peaceful; but the Shama I have always kept in a flight-cage. The

English Robin I have kept both in cage and aviary ; it is a most

fascinating little bird, but too tame by nature to be confined at all ;

I much prefer to see it at liberty.* Of the common Nightingale I

have kept both hand-reared and trapped examples, but found them

disappointing as regards their song: in my opinion a captive

Nightingale’s song is very inferior to that of its free brother; it is

uncertain and scrappy. I have two gramophone records of the song

of a captive bird produced in Germany : they are very fair repro¬

ductions of that of the majority of caged Nightingales, but there is

no comparison between them and the songs which I have heard in

the Kentish woods and copses.


With the Warblers I have had less success than I should

have liked : my hand-reared Lesser Whitethroats died very young.

I kept a Blackcap for some time but eventually it was killed by a

Parrakeet ; a Garden Warbler lived for ten months in one of my

aviaries but died from disease of the lungs ; a Gold-crest which I

had, refused to eat, and only survived for about twenty-four hours :

it was brought to me, or I should not have attempted to keep it.

Willow-Warblers caught in my garden would eat so long as they

were provided with living insects, but as soon as these failed they

died; they ignored soft food although they saw other birds eating it,

so I soon gave up catching them. My hand-reared Sedge-Warbler

only lived about two months.


I have kept many Hedge-Accentors and I once caught, and

for a time kept, a young Alpine Accentor : they are not attractive

either as cage or aviary-birds, for they take a long time to become

reconciled to captivity ; or perhaps to the proximity of mankind,

since they always seemed happy enough when they could not see



* The Robin is sometimes a dangerous associate for other small birds

which it has been known to kill by piercing the skull with its bill.



