285


THE



Hvicultural fllbagasine,



BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Nerv Series— VO L. V. — NO. 10. — All rights reserved. AUGUST, 1907.


HUMMING-BIRDS IN CAPTIVITY.

By Albert and Hugo Pam.


Last year the Editor wrote some remarks on the subject

of the few Humming-Birds which were brought back from South

America for the Zoological Society. Since that first trial another

small consignment was brought over in the month of June of

last year, and last May we again succeeded in landing twenty

Humming-Birds, which were duly deposited in the Society's

Gardens on the 27th of that month. The death of the last sur-

vivor of this consignment has caused us to review the facts

which these three trials have brought out, and also the experience

gained by us in the feeding and care of these small birds, which

has been largely increased since the first article appeared in this

Magazine on the subject.


The last consignment of twenty birds was put on board

the mail steamer in La Guayra in good condition, and the last

bird to survive died after having been in captivity in London

between four and five weeks. Inasmuch as this bird was caught

about a fortnight before it left Venezuela, and the voyage took

sixteen days, we can roughly state that it was in captivity for

about nine weeks.


It has now therefore been clearly proved that Humming-

Birds, under favourable conditions, can be kept in captivity for a

short time even in this country ; but we have regretfully come

to the conclusion that, owing to the climatic conditions which

obtain in England, and the uncertainty of the weather, it is not

to be expected that these little birds can be kept in a cage for

any considerable period in England.



