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Mr. Gerald E. Rattigan,



disaster. Hand-reared birds would be, of course, the most suitable,

and it might be possible to induce these to partake of some form

of fish meal or insectile mixture. I doubt, however, from my own

experience, whether an adult caught bird, however tame it might

become, would ever take to this diet. I believe I am correct in

stating that partial success has been met with at the Zoological

Gardens, Regent’s Park, in the breeding of the closely-allied Sacred

Kingfisher, the birds, according to the information I received from one

of the keepers, went to nest in a log nest box of the design generally

constructed for the use of Parrakeets. I do not think that any

young were actually hatched out, but perhaps Mr. Seth-Smith

would kindly give us the details, which would ceitainly be of great

interest. Should I succeed in obtaining a pair, I mean to have

another try at keeping, and if possible, breeding these birds this

year. I trust this correspondence may prompt other members who

may have kept Kingfishers to give us the benefit of their experiences,

for no more charming a bird could well grace an aviary.


I do not think they require the enormous amount of fish

“per diem” that Mr. Barnby Smith seems to imply. My bird,

at all events, was strictly limited to ten minnows in the morning

and ten again after lunch, with roughly twenty or thirty mealworms

added. If an unlimited supply of fish were given, I think it would

harm rather than benefit the birds, as they are greedy creatures

and would be sure to devour many more than was good for them.

My bird, during the six or seven weeks he was in my possession,

until his sudden death, never looked sick or sorry, so the treatment

I gave him cannot have disagreed with him to any great extent.


The Snipe is yet another bird that appears to be badly

neglected by aviculturists. Why this should be so, I cannot

imagine, as it is a delightful bird for an aviary, and from the

experience of it that I shall describe below, I should say not at

all difficult to keep, even under seemingly most adverse conditions.

I have nevertheless looked in vain to see a representative of the

species even in the waders’ aviary at Regent’s Park, where the

conditions for keeping them would be pretty nearly ideal, and

where many of what I should imagine must be far more difficult

subjects are kept in beautiful trim.



