Dr. M. Amsler—General Notes on Aviculture



79



This is a species which I have bred almost annually for the past

ten years.


Lastly, I have a pair of Migratory Thrushes, the American

“ Robin ”, which are also nesting.


Last year I brought back from France a pair of Pied Rock-

thrushes, but unfortunately lost the hen. The male is just finishing

his vernal moult, and looks very beautiful with his powder-blue head,

orange breast, and white rump ; he is, moreover, a fine singer

when the spirit moves him, but he prefers, as a rule, to sing a little

human ditty which no doubt he learned from the foolish person who

hand-reared him.


Practically all the Thrushes are good songsters, even the brightly-

coloured species ; they are easily tamed by means of mealworms, and

are to my mind much more intelligent than the vast majority

of seed-eaters. Faults they have: it is not often possible to keep two

pairs together in one aviary during the breeding season, but they

do not interfere with other birds which are not closely allied, and

the males are given to murdering their wives when the season is

over. Sometimes it is the females who attack the males. I usually

manage to mix up the pairs during the autumn and winter in

different aviaries, and do not have much trouble, but the sexes must

be separated at once at the first sign of disagreement or there will

surely be a mangled corpse in the aviary one morning.


Perhaps more intelligent even than the Thrushes, though less

lovable, are the Jays and Pies. I have not sufficient aviary room for

a large collection, and as breeding is always my first object when

I get a pair of birds, I have to be satisfied with one, or at the most

two, species. For merely spectacular purposes a large mixed

collection can easily be kept in a roomy aviary, and there are

few sights to equal that of a dozen or more species flying about

together in an aviary 30 ft. or 40 ft. long ; these I have actually

seen at Mons. Delacour’s at the Chateau de Cleres.


The aviary can be a very rough affair—the higher the better—

with a good-sized shelter and plenty of feeding trays to prevent

squabbling; the netting need not be smaller than one inch, as

mice would be very welcome visitors to these birds. In such



