Humming Bird at the Zoological Gardens. 109



Zoo. which has lived 38 } T ears in a cage, and I myself bought

one, 35 years ago, which only recently died of old age. Small'

finches have been known to live six and eight years in cages if

their wants have been properly studied, all of which cases prove

that with sufficient room for exercise, suitable food and intelligent

care birds in cages can enjoy long life, which is the best proof of

their enjoyment of health and happiness.


But let no one undertake the care of a caged creature who-

is not able and willing to ensure that it receives at all times all

the care and intelligent attention required.


[The subject dealt with in tlie above article is a very important one,

especially at the present time, when it is proposed to erect, almost

immediately, a special house for small birds at the Zoological Gardens. It

is very desirable that members should freely express their views on the

matter of the most suitable sizes for cages and aviaries; whether it is

desirable that each species should be separately caged, or whether several

allied forms should be kept together in good-sized flights. We hope that

the subject will be freely discussed in this journal.— Ed.].



HUMMING BIRD AT THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.



The arrival of a living Humming Bird at the Zoological Gardens is

an event of great avicultural interest and importance, though it is some¬

what ancient history now, and most of our members have read all about it

in the daily and weekly papers.


This bird, a specimen of the Bolivian Violet-eared Humming Bird

(.Petasophora iotaia ) arrived at the Gardens on November 25th last. During

the train journey from Southampton ever}' effort was made to keep the

bird warm, by placing foot-warmers etc. round the cage, but in spite of all

care, on arrival it was in a state of collapse from the cold; but it imme¬

diately recovered when placed in a warm place by the liot-water pipes in

the Insect House.


At a meeting of the Zoological Society on November 28th Captain

Pam gave an interesting account of his attempt to import living Humming

Birds. These are caught by the Natives with limed twigs, and many

attempts have been made to keep them in captivity in Venezuela, but with

very limited success. Capt. Pam fed his Humming Birds on sugar and

water to which was added a certain amount of extract of meat as a substi¬

tute for insects; and this treatment succeeded well. He started from

Venezuela with some half-dozen of these birds, all of which had lived with

him for some time before starting. On arrival at Southampton one only



