Thirty-two Years of Aviculture.



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cat : and, by imitating' that beast I could always start it off : it

lived to a good age and died peacefully.


I purchased a Sulphury Tyrant about 1895 which lived in a

small flight for about a year. I found it chiefly of interest on account

of its Kingfisher-like habits ; it would kill a minnow or a newt

exactly in the same manner, slapping it from side to side against its

perch before swallowing it : of course it would be risky to trust such a

bird with Waxbills, no doubt it could kill a small bird with one

blow of its enormous and powerful bill : it has an awful screech,

nasal and prolonged, which makes anyone jump who chances to be

looking at it : its colouring is pleasing but I don’t want another

specimen of the bird.


As previously mentioned I have tried to keep young Swifts

but with little success. I have hand-reared Wrynecks and found

them interesting. I only wish I could have kept them longer, the

strongest only lived from July to December. I am afraid the small

greenhouse in which I was then obliged to keep my birds was

hardly warm enough. In 1895, to save the bird’s life, I bought a

hen Green Woodpecker from a catcher ; but it absolutely refused

any kind of food, living or otherwise, and after severely damaging

the'large cage in which I had placed it, it died thirty-six hours after

it came into my possession.


I band-reared a young Cuckoo which was given to me on one

occasion, but I would never take on another. Of all the stupid, in¬

sufferably dirty and greedy little beasts he was infinitely the worst.

Eventually his gluttony and disinclination for proper exercise killed

him and he was not deeply regretted.


With the solitary exception of the Grey Parrot, which makes

an entertaining companion, I don’t care much for the Psittaci : they

are mostly noisy and destructive and many of them cannot be

associated with other birds without great risk. Of course there are

many beautifully coloured species among them and there are a few

whose ancestors must have been utterly devoid of artistic taste, to

produce such crude and unpleasing combinations in their plumage.

I have had the following species :—I once purchased a male Slender-

billed Cockatoo which I kept for exactly a week, when I sold it for

just double the price I had given for it : it was perfectly gentle and



