201



Correspondence , Notes, etc.



York climate. The fluctuations are beyond all belief, and theoretically, all

alien birds should promptly succumb to its severity. At present tliere are

not far from nine hundred healthy, happy birds sheltered by the “grotesque

experiment,”—from a flock of tiny Grassquits to great Concave-casqued

Hornbills, and all have positively refused to be influenced by Mr. Wiener’s

logic. The storms of winter have howled outside and found the building

invincible, guarded night and day by the automatic thermostats, regulating

the temperature to a degree; the heat of summer has beat down and only

encouraged the birds to greater activity and song. This latter objection

was considered long before the building was completed, and it was never

the expectation that the roof should remain as it was throughout the

summer. When the direction and force of the rays of the summer sun was

gauged, a thin skim of white was laid on over certain panes of the glass

roof, thus allowing the tenants of each cage to enjoy sunshine or subdued

shadow as they preferred. Even this painting of the roof will not be neces¬

sary when the plants have had several j’ears to grow; for, Mr. Wiener not¬

withstanding, the flora of the Bird House is a decided success. As he

predicted, the mice wrought havoc at first, but we pitted brains of the

genus Homo against those of the genus Mas, and unexpected os the result

must be to Mr. Wiener ,—Homo has won !


The mice gnawed the roots of the palms, so we protected them with

wire; they made nests in the heart of the frond stems, so we bound a

mouse’s-reach of the trunk with impassable smooth metal. The vermin

destroyed the vines until the boxes were isolated on brackets and the bricks

were varnished smooth. Defeated here, they held on for a time in the

cages themselves, until a now systematic relay of traps, terrier dogs and

Sparrow Hawks have reduced their numbers to a mere remnant of what

they once were. The fox terriers were long since introduced to all the

birds, and create hardly a ripple of excitement when lifted into a cage and

told to “ dig’em out.” The tropical Sparrow Hawks learned at once that

there was good hunting by moonlight, and when moved to a vacant cage

next to a flock of Weavers, they feasted high on the mice running through

the cage. Of late their supply has dwindled almost to nothing. All holes

leading to the cellar were stopped up and—thus ended the mouse war !


Among the plants now flourishing in the building are sago palms,

illawarra and areca palms, cinnamon, lemon and orange trees (the latter in

full blossom), Norfolk Island pine, creeping fig, shingle plant and other

vines. Cabbage palms stretch wide their feather) 7 fronds, and the wide-

spreading bamboo stalks have flourished ;fo that they now touch the roof.

Frequent judicious and scientific spraying has completely overcome the

dust objection ; so instead of a few “ hanging baskets and hardy evergreen

bushes,” which must be replaced “once a w 7 eek or every fortnight,” we have

foliage growing so rapidly and well that it has been necessary to cut away

more than one leafy branch to clear the front of a cage.



