EXOTIC BIRDS FOR BRITAIN 149 



and that it would be almost impossible to convey 

 them to England. That is a question it would be 

 premature to discuss now ; but if the attempt should 

 ever be made, the diificulties would not perhaps be 

 found insuperable. In all countries one hears of 

 certain species of birds that they invariably die in 

 captivity; but when the matter is closely looked 

 into, one usually finds that improper treatment and 

 not loss of hberty is the cause of death. Unquestion- 

 ably it would be much more difficult to keep a 

 kingfisher alive and healthy during a long sea- 

 voyage than .a common seed-eating bird ; but the 

 same may be said of woodpeckers, cuckoos, warblers, 

 and, in fact, of any species that subsists in a state 

 of nature on a particular kind of animal food. Still, 

 when we find that even the excessively volatile 

 humming-bird, which subsists on the minutest 

 insects and the nectar of flowers, and seems to require 

 unlimited space for the exercise of its energies, can 

 be successfully kept confined for long periods and 

 conveyed to distant countries, one would imagine 

 that it would be hard to set a limit to what might be 

 done in this direction. We do not want hard-billed 

 birds only. We require, in the first place, variety ; 

 and, secondly, that every species introduced, when 

 not of type unlike any native kind, as in the case of 

 the pheasant, shall be superior in beauty, melody, or 

 some other quality, to its British representative. 



