Correspojidence, Notes, etc. 207



with most favourable results, the hen making a hearty meal of it in the

mornings.


The Epsom salts you suggested has worked wonders, and the whole

of to-day and yesterday he has not shown the slightest inclination to sleep,

and appears the picture of health.


With regard to boiled maize, I have always made it the staple diet of

my talking birds of both these species, several of which have been in my

possession for close on twenty years, and appear in perfect health and

plumage. The maize being, of course, supplemented later in the day with

sunflower seed, some monkey nuts, fruit, hemp seed, etc. None of my

large Parrots or Cockatoos, with the exception of a Goffln, will touch

canary seed. I boil the maize over night for about an hour, leaving it to

strain on a cullender which I place on a warm range in the morning, just

long enough to allow the corn to be dry and warm without getting hard,

and the Greys and Amazons appear to enjoy it immensely. I find it also

much appreciated in this warm state by my Jendaya and Halfmoon Conures

in outdoor aviary, especially in cold weather. By the way what hardy birds

the Jendayas appear to be. I turned out a pair last autumn into an

unheated outdoor aviary, where they have thriven splendidly, bathing even

on days when their bath was frozen. I also turned out a pair of Blue-

crowned Cranes, by way of experiment, in the middle of December last, and

they are now in perfect health and plumage. They appeared to enjoy their

first snow storm immensely, holding out their wings to catch the descending

flakes and talking to each other in their extraordinary note that is more

like the croaking of a Jay than anything else.



Canon Dutton, writing to Dr. Butler, re the above, remarks :


“It seems rather like my Guilding’s, only mine does eat other seed.

But I am increasing the sunflower, as its plumage gives me the idea of being

too dry—not oily enough—and I am actually giving bread and milk. I don’t

know however that it eats an}’.


I am recommending a mixture of seeds, J hemp, f- white sunflower,

oats, canary, millet in equal proportions, and occasional Epsom salts for

tlie drink.


I don’t think Mr. Morse’s bird sounds as if having much the matter,

but if he keeps Amazons, he probably knows, and if he says its “not right”

I suppose it is’nt.


I am proposing to send my Guilding’s to the Zoo, and Dr. Mitchell

suggests putting it with theirs (Mr. Rothschild’s ?) in a large compart¬

ment in the Fish House. If the Fish House is as warm as the Parrot

House, that is an admirable idea. They might breed. But I am satisfied



