Dr. M. Amsler—General Notes on Aviculture



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and a nest of young mice about a week old will fairly make them

dance with pleasure. My birds get butcher’s meat twice a week and

a little cooked meat on other days. I almost think they prefer the

latter. They are very fond of picking bones, and always have the

carcase of any chicken which has been eaten in the house—the

Christmas turkey, or what remained of it, also gave them much

pleasure. t


Finally, while on the subject of food, I want once more to ask

aviculturists to try my ground rice mixture ; it is made by pouring

a little boiling milk over ground rice, which is then well stirred; the

result is a thickish paste, which is sweetened with “ honey-sugar ”.

There is not a bird in my aviaries which does not eat it—Waxbills,

Bullfinches, Siskins, Tits, Thrushes, Nuthatches, Serins of various

kinds, and finally the Jays. I give my birds what I consider to be

the best soft-bill food on the market, but the ground rice is always

eaten first. New birds always take a day or two before they eat it,

but they soon follow the example of their aviary mates, and I am

quite sure it suits them; and, as I have already noted in the

Magazine, I have a pair of Lorikeets which for the past six years have

reared from three to four broods annually, and which now never look

at anything else—neither fruit, greenstuff, or seed.


To return to the Corvid®, before closing my somewhat aimless

wanderings it might help would-be breeders to have a short list of

the better-known species which have to my knowledge been reared in

captivity. These are the Raven, British Jay, Magpie and Jackdaw,

Occipital Blue Pie, the Azure-winged Magpie (both Chinese and

Spanish sub-species). There are doubtless others which without

books of reference I cannot remember. Species which it would be

interesting and pleasing to breed are the “ Yucatans ”, including

San Bias and Beechey’s Jays, the Pileated, Blue-bearded, and

American Blue Jays, the Hunting Crow or Cissa from the Himalayas,

and lastly the Azure Jay, of which there must be a fair number at

the moment in private collections.


As I have learned to my cost, these birds are not quite so easy to

breed as- Budgerigars or Zebra Finches, but this only adds zest to

one’s endeavours. There are three difficulties to be overcome—-first



