Some Practical Remarks on Practical Aviculture. L21



tiveness over them, and then when the quasi-helpless young birds

leave the nest they will have some cover to hide in. I experienced

the loss of a young bird the other day owing to the lack of cover in

the shelter.


Two Avadavats left the nest. One was stronger on the wing

than the other, but both were attacked most unmercifully by Green

Avadavats, other Red Avadavats, Bib Finches and several other

small birds. The one that was able flew out into the flight where

there is a superabundance of cover, but the other was not able to

manage it, and the latter, although it had the protection of the

shelter and its crop was quite full, was dead the next morning,

bullied to death; whereas the former is now fending for itself

although we had frost on each night succeeding its plunge into the

outer world. With regard to nesting accommodation, I can only

make a passing remark and that is :—Don’t put them where they

make obvious alighting places for birds coming in and going out, and

don’t imagine birds prefer a dark dungeonlike sort of corner to

nest in. My birds like to have the entrance to the nest in a good

light and I have noticed that they nearly always prefer to use a

nesting receptacle that faces the light rather than the reverse.


There is one point about my main Finch aviary that I

have repeatedly found invaluable and always found useful. The

inner flight of my new Finch aviary is the same breadth as the

outer flight, and the shelter is entered from the outer flight. The

passage divides the two inner flights and merely consists of wire

mesh partitions. In this aviary, which was built against a south

brick wall, the roof slopes upwards to the back, and is thereabout 8

feet high. Against the wall at the back I have had fixed a kind of

square tunnel, but with the front made of wire work and made so as

to open outwards. I thus have an easy means of communication

between flights A and B. At the same time it takes up no useful

room, being overhead. By means of sliding shutters I can instantly

clear the tunnel at either end, i.e., at HK or LM. The object of this

is as follows : In the first place I can use either flight separately or

as one large flight. Thus I can drive all the birds into flight A

and clean or repair flight B, or I can keep flight A shut up and

allow flight B to remain open to the outer flight, and so on.



