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Dr. A. G. Butler,



dispositions, bright notes as a rule (though the Persian bird far

excels the others as a songster) confiding ; hut jealous of other birds

at whom they swear vigorously if they conceive that the latter are

encroaching upon their rights.


The only Titmice which I have kept are the Ox-eye or Great

Tit, the Coal-Tit in the nestling stage, the Marsh-Tit and the Blue-

Tit. Of these the first is a heartless butcher and far better free than

in captivity; the Blue-Tit is delightful, but unfortunately is very

sensitive to cold, and has a nasty habit of killing and eating the

brains of its invalid brethren ; hut the tameness of hand-reared

Blue-Tits is marvellous. On the whole I found the Marsh-Tit the

most suitable for aviary life.


I have once had the Nuthatch, which I kept in a flight-cage,

but it did not live many weeks with me : it was a pretty bird and I

was sorry when it died. The English Wren I have attempted to

keep once or twice, but I could not persuade it to eat soft food, so

after it had caught all the spiders and small insects in the aviary

into which I had turned it, it speedily died.


Of Wagtails I have had several examples each of the Pied,

the Grey, and the Yellow : I consider them the most graceful and

pleasing of all the British soft-bills : they soon become tame and, if

hand-reared, are astonishingly so : in an aviary of small mixed birds

they are inclined to be somewhat aggressive; hut, as house-pets

with plenty of freedom I know of nothing to approach them. I

have kept ten Meadow-Pipits ; but, though not disagreeable to other

inhabitants of the aviary, they fought each other incessantly ; so

that of the last nine which I purchased at one time some killed one

another, others were killed by a Hedge-Accentor, and eventually

only one hen was left alive : I cannot recommend them therefore as

aviary birds, and as cage-birds they are not much to look at.


I have had one Golden Oriole which lived in a flight-cage for

about two years : it was blind in one eye which possibly may have

been the reason for its uninteresting dulness. It rarely whistled,

and; in spite of its bright colouring, I am afraid I did not grieve

much when it passed away. A Bed-backed Shrike which was caught

in its first year and given to me in 1896 was so wild, ill-tempered

and dirty that I found it more trouble than pleasure : it used plenty



