142



Correspondence, Notes, etc.



destruction of the leaf-buds by the birds’ beaks that is the chief hindrance

to the growth of vegetation. The rain will wash the trees; and if there be

plenty of mould they will derive benefit from the workings of the mice, if

any there be, rather than otherwise. With ordinary species a tree will last a

few years, especially if it be allowed a close time in the spring; and even a

dead tree is infinitely better than no tree at all. And should the tree last

but a year—what does it matter ? it has served its purpose. I11 the aviary,

do we keep the birds for the trees or the trees for the birds !! ! And the

common Virginia creeper, when once established, will defy the birds even if

planted inside the aviary. When growing on the aviary, instead of being

kept in check by the birds, it will smother the aviary if not cut hard back

every year. Have there not been box trees and ivy in some of the Western

Aviaries for years ?


Should the aviary be not too small, and should it be sufficiently lofty

(an important point), if plenty of nesting boxes and the like be put up, not

forgetting trees and shrubs and plenty of nesting material, there will be very

little quarrelling over sites, &c. And it is in the aviary not in the cage that

even the little birds breed most successfully.


Certain species, as every one knows, will destroy eggs and nestlings,

but these are for a mixed not for a breeding aviary. Who would attempt to

breed even canaries along with Jackdaws, Magpies, &c. ? No bird so keen

after nestlings as the Cissa ; and Jay-Thruslies, Laughing-Thrushes, &c.,

&c., are not much better. And some small species are regular egg-stealers,

whether in cage or aviary. If a proper selection of species be made, in¬

stead of the eggs in the aviary disappearing it is just the reverse. Many

species will not breed in a cage; if there should be eggs, they may be

dropped about, eaten, or not sat upon. Nothing so miserably unsatisfactory

as the attempt to breed foreign birds in a cage. With a few species there

may be limited success, but that is the exception not the rule. And then

there come—sooner or later, it is just a matter of time—overlaying, shell¬

less eggs, egg-binding, and the ruin or death of the female. On the other

hand, the very identical birds which have never failed to eat their eggs when

in a cage, when turned into the aviary will go to nest in a proper manner

and never touch an egg again. And remember that in the aviary, if my

experience is worth anything, there is no egg-binding. I have had egg¬

binding both in cage and birdroom, but never in the open natural aviary.

Mr. Wiener’s model cages 30 X 15 X 24 inches, each containing one pair—

and how is he going to obtain a pair in ever}- case ?—look well upon paper,

but in practice would mean the breaking up of many of the pairs by the

death of the females, not to mention the ceaseless annoyance of others

going to nest in the winter instead of the summer. Mr. Wiener’s paradise

in which separate pairs will find such cages a “ world in which they can be

as happy, nay even happier, than in a big park, and in which they will pro¬

ceed to nest and breed a progeny” is beautiful but visionary, and provokes



