242



Correspondence, Notes, etc.



without exception, in desperate case when they came into my possession,

and even these were few in number.


The importance of Dr. Creswell’s conclusions respecting fresh air will

be admitted by all who know anything about bird-life: some aviculturists

will not go so far as he does ; though, years before he published his long

paper on hygiene, I had shown that even delicate Waxbills could stand a

considerable amount of cold with impunity, so long as they had plenty of

fresh air (I remember that my Avadavats were none the worse for 21 degrees

of frost). I11 fact the so-called discoveries of Dr. Creswell did not strike

aii3 7 old hands as new; but when I stated as much, he said that this was

“very interesting” and desired me to point out chapter and verse: my

memory is perhaps unusually good (I have been told so), but I was never

good at dates ; however I think Mr. Fulljames later called attention to the

fact that Dr. Greene had made a stir about the latent potentiality for

mischief in yolk of egg when given to unhealthy birds, in the Feathered

World years before. I know that about the same time a Canary-breeder

argued the point with me in my bird-room, and assured me that he reared

all his young on sopped bread alone.


In short most of what these modern explorers have discovered is not

new; and, of the residuum, the onus of proving that it is true they are

welcome to. It is certainly not true that Messrs. Creswell and Fillmer are

“the two best hated men in the world of aviculture”; even the least for¬

giving students of bird-life do not regard the matter seriously enough for

that; and, although they may deplore the lack of courtesy which has

characterized the letters published by the egg traducers, they excuse the

naughtiness on the ground of zeal for a hopeless cause.


A. G. Butler.



Sir, —With reference to Mr. Fillmer’s letter in the April Magazine,

may I be allowed to point out:


(1) That the fact of fresh air being of more importance than heat has

been known to aviculturists long before the name of Dr. Creswell. In

proof of this one has only to refer back to the early volumes of the

Avicultmal Magazine and read the records of Messrs. John Sargeant, W. T.

Page, and the Rev. C. D. Farrar, besides several others, all of whom had

published their records of these facts long before Dr. Creswell.


(2) That egg-food had been denounced first of all by Gedney, (but I

have not got the book here to give reference), at any rate by Dr. Greene,

who wrote in Bird Notes, Vol. III., p. 166, that he had written about it in

the first volume of Poultry, which is certainly a long time ahead of Dr.

Creswell, and in spite of all denunciations it still continues to be used by

the great majority of bird-keepers. Further, I am open to state that, if Dr.

Creswell or Mr. Fillmer asked each member of the Foreign Bird Club

whether they used egg in any shape or form, more than half would



