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KIDD'S OWN JOUKNAL. 



natural habits being reserved, and solitude 

 their delight. These we shall speak of, at 

 a more fitting season. However, the ge- 

 nerality of birds prefer a commonwealth, and 

 live in perfect amity when congregated— each 

 individual being allowed, for the most part, 

 to have his own way ; though, by the bye, 

 not always "his own way of having it;" — a 

 distinction, reader, prithee mark, with some 

 considerable difference attached to it. 



There can be no possible objection, under 

 certain circumstances, for granivorous and 

 insectivorous (hard-billed and soft-billed) 

 birds being associated together in the same 

 aviary. But as this, for certain reasons pre- 

 sently to be given, can only be during the 

 summer months, or from May to August, it 

 will be necessary so to construct an aviary as 

 to make it available for two distinct habita- 

 tions — a summer residence, and a home for 

 the whiter. The one will then be assigned, 

 during the inclement season, to the hardy or 

 seed birds ; whilst the other will be appro- 

 priated solely to the more tender, or soft- 

 billed birds. These last, without having their 

 dwelling kept at a temperature of equable 

 warmth, would infallibly perish. This is 

 worthy of particular attention ; for many a 

 valuable bird has been lost in a single night 

 by a sudden change in the temperature. 



A due regard must be paid to the proper 

 regulation of the fire. Excessive heat is per- 

 haps as fatal in its consequences, as extreme 

 cold ; the lungs of these delicate creatures 

 being sensitive to an extraordinary degree. 

 Having little muscular strength in the winter, 

 they are unable to fight against disease ; and 

 an attack of sudden sickness is beyond their 

 power of mastery. "When once a bird is 

 " struck" in this way, nothing but a miracle 

 can save him. If indeed he were to survive, 

 he would never recover ; and if he were 

 valued only for his song, not another note 

 would he be heard to utter! Soft-billed 

 birds, the " warblers " especially, are dif- 

 ficult to rear through the winter. It requires 

 many years' practice, and patience almost un- 

 heard of, to enable one to treat them success- 

 fully ; and we much doubt whether, after all, 

 they are, everything considered, worth the 

 anxiety and trouble bestowed on them by 

 amateurs. Regular " dealers " in these birds 

 will have nothingto do with them in the whiter. 

 They are wise. Thus much however maybe 

 said — if you succeed in saving only two or 

 three really fine birds, the recompense is 

 great. 



When we first stored our aviary, we placed 

 in it an extraordinary number of smalllbirds — 

 including nearly every species, hard-billed as 

 well as soft-billed. Being ignorant at the 

 outset of- the peculiar constitution of each, 

 and their power to resist cold, we tried a 

 rather hazardous experiment by allowing the 



more tender to hybernate, or try to do so, 

 with the more robust ; carefully noting how 

 long they would exist in a state of health, 

 without the aid of artificial warmth. It is 

 only by these practical experiments that one 

 can arrive at a perfect knowledge of facts. 

 This experiment was a costly one, but it af- 

 forded us an excellent insight into what Ave 

 much desired to know. We observed, not 

 only that the tender birds drooped as the 

 weather became gradually colder, but that 

 their tempers and dispositions were visibly 

 affected thereby, undergoing a remarkable 

 change. They were sulky, fractious, quar- 

 relsome, and tyrannical, by turns ; and many 

 of them, even in the agonies of death, left 

 traces of their malevolence behind them. 

 Nor did any of the survivors, after we re- 

 moved them into warmer quarters, ever re- 

 cover their original sprightliness and vivacity. 

 Their plumage, too, was neglected ; their 

 voices were " wiry " and inharmonious ; and 

 their personnel " shabby." They lost all the 

 trimness belonging to their natural state, and 

 seemed, to speak expressively, ashamed of 

 themselves. When the spring came round, 

 we felt it no more than due to our poor in- 

 valids (on whom, by the way, we had lavished 

 our fondest care and attention during their 

 stay in the " sick ward ") to make them all 

 the reparation in our power. We gave 

 them their liberty. A flight across the waters 

 of the Mediterranean in the ensuing autumn, 

 and a six months' sojourn on the shores of 

 Africa, would, we have little doubt, re-instate 

 them fully in health ; and it is more than 

 probable, that the very same birds revisited 

 our garden, and other their usual haunts be- 

 fore they originally took their leave — during 

 the folloAving spring. 



Having thus accurately ascertained what 

 might properly be termed " hardy, " and 

 what " tender " birds, we at once and for 

 ever settled in our own mind the proper 

 course of action in these matters. At the 

 latter end of August, there must be a com- 

 plete change of inmates ; and the second or 

 inner aviary must be got ready for the 

 special accommodation of the "warblers." 

 The room being warmed by a stove, can of 

 course be kept at one regulated heat ; and, 

 with proper care and attention, very little 

 loss of life may be anticipated through the 

 winter. This, however, will mainly depend 

 upon a strict attention being paid to proper 

 diet, as we shall hereafter more particularly 

 mention ; for on migratory birds it is im- 

 possible to bestow too much care.* 



* Of the various phenomena attending the 

 "agitation" of these birds, when in confinement, 

 and which takes place twice a-year — a most re- 

 markable freak of Nature; — we have already 

 treated in the Journal. 



