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Mr. E. J. Brook,



warm quarters. Neither coulcl want of exercise hurt the birds

when the compartments they were shut into were large and gave

ample room for flight.


Then, again, I have often been under the impression that this

critical period was less noticeable one year than another with

exactly the same class of birds. This year I have had considerable

trouble with my smaller Sunbirds and Tanag'ers. These birds were

in splendid condition when it became necessary to shut them in for

fear of cold winds and heavy rain. I thought what a splendid store

of health they had accumulated against a long winter. All the long

summer and early autumn these birds had lived a life of practical

freedom, feeding from the flowers that adorned the beds and pillars

in the flights and the innumerable midges and other small insects.

So much natural food did my Sunbirds get that they required very

little artificial food for nearly four months. Then came the order to

close the windows and shut up for the winter, and none too soon, for

that very night the wind changed. The temperature fell and a

much wanted rain came at last.


Now, instead of the birds that up to this time had looked so

well, continuing in this state of health, those that had not quite got

over the moult looked dull and dry in their plumage, in fact, they

were stuck in the moult I should say. I did all I could to

mend matters but evidently the sudden change from a natural diet

to an artificial one was too much for their constitutions and I lost

some of them. The larger Sunbirds and those over the moult did

not seem to suffer. From what I have seen of a large collection of

Sunbirds kept in an indoor aviary and in cages and that never get out

into the open, I am inclined to think that the smaller species will do

best in large cages where they can take exercise and are kept on the

same food all the year round. Kept in this way there is no sudden

change from one mode of life and feeding to another, and they are

therefore safer.


While on this subject, I might mention my experience of the

Sugar Birds. The Yellow-winged I have never had much trouble

with and I have also found the Black-headed easy to keep, but the

Purple has given a lot of trouble and so has the Blue ( D. cay ana).

I think perhaps the Purple is inclined to get fat and possibly the



