238



Dr. L. Lovell-Keays,



one’s birds became a pressing and serious matter. Roughly speak¬

ing I divided my birds into three main families, viz. :—


(1) Those that had access to a suitable shelter, but were not


obliged to use it by day or by night unless they liked.


(2) Those that were driven in by night and only allowed out on


suitable days.


(3) Those that were shut in, and, owing to the structure of the


bird-rooms, never allowed out at all.


Under heading No. 2 I could further sub-divide by adding


(a) Those that had the advantage of heat, if and when necessary.


( b ) No heating under any circumstances.


In section 3 heat was used whenever the thermometer stood

below 40° Fahr. or appeared likely to fall below 40° Fahr.


With 12-15 aviaries and some 400-450 birds it seemed one

had a fairly good opportunity of testing the open-air-go-in-and-out-

when-you-like theory.


The results and deductions were very soon and very easily

arrived at. The losses varied from 5 to 50 per cent. In some cases

an entire species was wiped out. And it all happened just as the

man in the street would have expected, viz., the greater the liberty

the birds had the higher the mortality. I cannot truthfully say I

have had a single surprise. I hope and think I have been absolutely

honest with myself and carried on the experiment in a truly open-

minded scientific spirit. But I think perhaps the most instructive

experiment was with regard to an aviary in category No. 1, which I

shall deal with later on. The birds there consisted of Grassfinches,

Singing Finches, Mannikins, Waxbills, and a pair of Scaly-crowned

Finches. Many of them were aviary-bred last season. I found it

quite impossible to drive these birds in at night time, so let them

take their chance. I am sure that not five per cent, used the shelter

unless they were going to die, and then I have often noticed they do.

With regard to this shelter question, how many shelters are used

voluntarily by most birds? Parrakeets will use a shelter, but I

have yet to find the birds that will use a shelter or the shelter that

most birds will use. This evening (March 25th) the birds were left

out a little late, and in one aviary where the birds had slept in the

shelter for over five months, not six out of perhaps fifty were roost-



