igo Correspondence , Notes, etc.



tnre of the room is never below 52 degrees, but I keep the window open

as often as I can.


At 10.30 p.111. the birds are awakened always for a feed, and a strong

electric light laid on the top of the cage, near enough to let them derive

warmth from it. I imagine the birds mistake this for the tropical sun,

and there is often a scramble as to who will keep the coveted spot nearest.

To watch the bright-coloured birds, spreading out their wings to the utter¬

most fluffing their feathers, turning their little heads back, beaks open,

and hanging so, poised on a branch of spray millett, is, in my opinion, a

sight worth seeing.


If I want them to breed I separate a pair into a smaller cage, but I

have never thought they were as happy as when all together in what I call

the entente cordiale. The husband bullies his wife, or the wife is lazy and

makes him do all the work, or else he eats the eggs,or when they are hatched

grows jealous of them and kills them, or the mother again grows sulky

and tires of sitting, or finally both parents are so taken up with each other

that they forget the family completely and they starve. I11 the large cage

there is such a delightful atmosphere of no responsibility. I rarely lose a

bird. Of course I do not count as losses the birds who die within a week

of purchase. I always think they cannot have been well when bought.


I also believe introduction from a distance most necessary before

allowing birds to come into close contact with each other.


E. MERRYLEES.



POST MORTEM EXAMINATIONS.



RULES.


Eacli bird must be forwarded, as soon after death as possible, carefully packed and postage

oaid, direct to Mr. Arthur Gill, Eauherne, Bexley Heath, Kent, and must be

accompanied bv a letter containing the fullest particulars of the case, and a fee

D f j/_ f or each bird. If a reply by post is required a fee of 2/6 must be enclosed.

Domestic poultry, pigeons, and Canaries can oniy be reported on by post.



Zebra Dove (Miss Ivens). Inflammation of liver. Do not keep your birds in a heated

room and allow them to fly into an outdoor flight. They cannot stand the great vari¬

ation of temperature. These birds can withstand our hardest winters.


Cordon Bleu (Mr. H. L. Sich). Answered by post.


Blue-winged Parrakeet (Mr. Lewis). Your bird has been ailing for a long time, having

wasted very much. The liver was much indurated from long and continued inflamma¬

tion.


Grouse (Mr. St. Quintin). Your bird had been ailing some time, as the extreme emacia¬

tion shows. The lungs were both inflamed, and the base of the right lung was in a

state of gangrene.


Little Owl (Miss Chawner). Acute enteritis was the cause of death. I should certainly

suspect an irritant poison. There were 110 signs of poison in the part of rat sent. I do

not make analyses.



ARTHUR GILL.



