I 37



Correspondence, Notes, etc.



Mr. Wiener also makes a point of the impossibility of rearing young

birds in this aviary. I cannot admit the impossibility in view of what

happened last season. But if it be granted for the sake of argument, no

very great importance should be attached to the failure. Sulphur-crested,

Roseate and other common Cockatoos, Ring-necked and Amazon Parrots

and common Macaws, with which the aviary is principally stocked, are not

much worth breeding apart from the gratification of the sentiment under¬

lying the natural and praiseworthy pride of aviculturists in the successful

rearing of the families of their pets. Young parrots make no show. They

emerge from the nests like adult birds, differing in no particular from

specimens newly introduced into the aviary. I am afraid the ‘hundreds’

of young parrots of the kind above mentioned, which Mr. Wiener declares

might have been successfully reared in curtailed quarters, would not have

proved very instructive or interesting to the ‘public’ and ‘students’ and

would have been a dreadful embarrassment to the Society.


The merits of the aviary Mr. Wiener summarises in two sentences.

It is a popular exhibition, and it has proved that many tropical species are

less sensitive to cold than they were formerly supposed to be. I am not sure

that those who have kept Parrots on a large scale will be prepared to admit

the novelty of the last fact, as stated. We can, however, with justice claim

to have shown that these birds will survive a Loudon winter, with a

sequence of fogs, rain, and frost in an open cage on the clay bank of a

canal—a very different thing from a cold temperature. Therein lies the

unexpected element in their hardiness: and the triumph of the success of

the experiment.


Mr. Wiener also underestimates the value of the aviarj' when he dis¬

misses it las a “popular exhibition.” It is much more than that. It is

a place where intelligent and receptive observers may learn in a few hours

more of the habits and psychology of Parrots than they could ever pick up

by watching the same birds in small cages in the Parrot House. A man who

looks for a meaning in things may find, for instance, an explanation of some

of the differences between a Cockatoo and a Cockatiel. He will note that

the conspicuous whiteness of the one is correlated with large size, a

leisurely flight and a noisy demeanour, all bespeaking the powerful bird

fearless of attack and heedless of concealment; while the dull but patchy

plumage of the other goes with small size, an arrow-like flight, and the

faculty of vanishing from view on alighting, attributes attesting the bird’s

unmistakable fear of enemies and showing the procryptic significance of

its size and coloration. Space forbids me to dwell on the many other

points of interest to be seen in this aviary, on the Darby and Joan-like

devotion of the couples of Macaws ; on the pompous flirtations of Sulphur-

crested Cockatoos; on the pugnacity and house-building skill of the Grey¬

breasted Parrakeets; on the mechanical unanimity in the wheeling flight of

a flock of Budgerigars—these and a number of similar phenomena may be



