2 
My Wilderness Aviary. 
covered with the highly coloured pollen. The Melba and Lavender 
Finches I remember were particularly fond of overhauling any 
kind of flower heads. 
Amongst other growing plants I must not omit to mention 
Hops. These, when in flower, and well-grown, are very orna- 
mental, for every year they throw out their tendrils stronger and 
stronger, forming beautiful festoons in varied shades of green. It 
is among these that the Lesser Whitethroats, Willow Wrens, 
Blackcaps, Mesias, and many others, earn a goodly share of their 
daily bread. The two former are never still by daylight, but are 
ever on the move flitting to and fro amongst the leaves, darting 
first in the shade then out into the sunshine, attracted thither 
perchance by some luckless insect, which soon falls a victim to 
their agility ; back they go again to search the under side of the 
hop leaves for the tiny flies that dwell there, forming truly a 
kaleidescope of ever-moving colour. 
Bamboos are ornamental and their long leaves serve as an 
excellent nesting material, in particular for various kinds of 
Weavers. 
Most of the Australian Grass-finches prefer to nest in long 
grass, as their name would naturally lead one to suppose, so to 
make the surroundings as natural as possible, I have made a rather 
steep bank, running the whole length of my aviaries, this bank 
faces due south and is turfed, and sown with various wild seeds, 
such as Plantain, Chickweed, Teazel, and many varieties of grass ; 
tliese are allowed to grow up and run to seed each year, and after 
the seed has fallen are cut close for the winter. 
The ground on which my aviaries are built was originally 
a sloping meadow at the back of the house ; enough ground was 
levelled at one end for a series of tennis courts, at the bottom of 
which runs a carriage drive, lying about four feet below these 
courts, and, below this road are the long series of aviaries. Now 
the water-draining from the land above tends to make the bank 
side of the " wilderness " very wet in winter, so I am having a 
stream constructed to run at the foot of the bank, the full length 
of the aviaries, to conduct all the surface water by way of a water- 
fall into a pond about twelve feet square, prepared for its recep- 
tion in aviary number four. This pond is to be fitted with an 
overflow pipe to empty into a ditch at the back of the aviaries. 
