241



Correspo n den ce, Notes, etc.



AVICULTURE AND SCIENCE.


Sir,—I have been much touched by my old friend Fillmer’s affecting

remarks on this subject in the April number of the Magazine : it makes

one feel for poor Nebuchadnezzar when he failed to persuade the three

Hebrews to worship his gods or the golden image which he had set up;

it also reminds us of the children in the market - place who could not

persuade other children to take pleasure in their sports.


It is indeed news to me that the scientific aviculture which it was the

aim of the founders of our Society to inaugurate, was limited to the mere

use of correct nomenclature; I always thought it was intended to deal also

with the correct housing, culture, and study of our feathered brethren :

but, as I find it difficult to breed birds in cages, whereas my very good

friend Mr. Bonhote finds it easier to breed them that way than in aviaries ;

so also in the matter of feeding there are differences of opinion based upon

varied experience.


I find, in common with most aviculturists of tolerably wide exper¬

ience, that 3'olk of egg is an admirable food, and tends to keep birds in

health and vigour for a much longer time than when, in our early days of

bird-keeping, we rarely used it. When I first began my studies in bird-life,

I fed my insectivorous birds chiefly upon a combination of oatmeal and

peameal made into a paste; later I mixed scalded Spratt’s poultry meal

(crushed dog-biscuit) with the other ingredients. O11 this I could keep

Blackbirds, Song- and Missel-Thrushes, and Starlings for two or three

years in moderately good health ; but then they had fits, cramp, skin

diseases, and they died. With plenty of yolk of egg, added to ‘Century

Food,’ biscuit, and bread, I can keep insectivorous birds practically until

they wear out from sheer old age.


In September 1905, I gave a list of my insectivorous birds with the

length of time for which (to my knowledge) they had been fed upon egg, in

the pages of the Feathered World, and Dr. Creswell tried to make light of

the undeniable facts there brought forward, by speaking of these birds as

survivals, and arguing that they lived in spite of the improper food. Of

course Dr. Creswell made no enquiries which could justify this assumption,

had he done so, I could have told him that my birds were indeed survivals,

owing to the fact that they had been fed with egg. My Blue-bearded Jay is

one of seven imported at the same time, and the only one which survived,

the others had meat, but little or no egg: I forget how many Collared Jay-

Thrushes came with mine, but only mine lived. My Chinese Bulbul was

one of two, the other specimen died in less than a month. All the Bower-

birds bought with my pair died young, and all the Scarlet Tanagers which

came over with mine have long since departed this life.


My insectivorous birds are therefore correctly styled survivors, and

they are by far the greater part of the birds of this class which I have

owned during the past ten years or so; those which have died were, almost



