on the Vicissitudes of Bird-Keeping: 93


and brought indoors all the birds in my larger garden aviary. which

badly required painting : my young Ouzels greatly resented their

restricted liberty, but their father (Merula boulboul) and the pair

of Green-winged doves took it as a matter of course.


On the 12th a young Gouldiau-finch left the nest and 011

the 14th a second flew: on the 15th I saw both young birds

feeding themselves !


September 13th Mr. Teschemaker sent me a young Red-

headed finch and a young Green Avadavat ; the latter however

was dead on the floor of the aviary on the 16th, having probably

been scared by my going out to see that all was safely locked up'

on the evening of the previous day. On the 13th also Mr. Allen

Silver brought me a pair of young Tree Sparrows, a species

which I had not previously kept.


September 17th Capt. Horsbrugh sent me a cock Grenadier

Weaver {Pyroinelana oryx) and a very interesting variety of the

Red-billed Weaver (Qzcelea qicelea.)


On the 23rd of the same month, as already stated, last

year's young hen Gouldian-finch looked ill and panted a good

deal, and later on the young cock bird became puffed and sleepy ;

but eventually both recovered without treatment. Undoubtedly

the fact of these birds having been bred out-of-doors and kept

out quite late in the year, rendered them vigorous enough to

resist what was probably a mild attack of septicaemia due to mice

getting into the aviary.


October 12th. My old hen Madagascar Love-bird, which

had murdered both her companions during the past two years,

died suddenly. On the day following the hen young Black

Tanager died and the cock was taken ill ; he also died on the

15th. There is 110 doubt that neither ever recovered from the

delay, caused by railway officials, in their transit from Devon-

shire, and the consequent want of food and drink to which they

had been subjected for many hours : for the two months during

which they were in my possession they were very peevish

and always quarrelling, so that their skins were not worth

preserving.


On the 23rd Mr. Teschemaker sent me a pair of mongrel

Striated x Bengalee finches, which astonished me by their re-



