128 
The Aviaries and Birds at Benham Valence. 
" I am quite in love with my Hermits, of which I have five, (rracefulin 
" their movements, they are also extremely fearless and s;entle, as well as 
"apparently hardy in captivity, for two of mine have passed the winter in 
" an out-door avairy, and I have seen them bathing when the sun was 
"setting on a gloomy afternoon in December or January. They keep 
"themselves in beautiful condition, looking sleek and compact. In 
" Januarj' one commenced to sing, of course he sang aot/o voce, but there 
" were the sweet pure tinkling notes and stanzas ; short stanzes following 
" quickly one upon another, yet uttered very deliberately ; a voice quite 
"unlike any of our English birds As a single cage pet I can imagine 
" no bird more charming in every way. They are very steady in a cage 
"and do not knock their tail feathers about as is so often the case with 
" Nightingales." 
" My Hermits are fed on Mr. P. F. M. Galloway's Mixture, but like all 
" insectivorous birds, fresh insect food is necessary for their welfare ; not 
" many mealworms, but cockroaches, gentles, flies, spiders, wood lice, etc., 
" and also fruit. They are very fond of grapes, skinned and cut into 
" pieces, which can be mixed with their every day food." 
Wood Thrush {Turdxs mustch'nus) A very beautiful 
and attractive species, one or more of which are to be seen at the 
present time in the Western Aviary at the Zoo. Mr. Astley's birds 
were very fit, very tight and clean in feather, and beautifully 
marked specimens of a lovely species. Like T. pallasi it is a N. 
American species. The birds were very tame and confiding, 
hopping quite close to you when in the aviary, giving ample op- 
portunity for observation. From " North American Birds," by J. 
Nehrling, I extract the following account of their wild life : 
" It is found chief 1}' in low damp woodlands which are thickly covered 
" with undergrowth, and prefers for settlement the shady interior to the 
" noisy and busy neighbourhood of man. Here one can hear the wonder- 
" ful, flute like song from early dawn until the fall of the evening twi- 
" light." 
" In the mountains of North Carolina and elsewhere, it loves to nest 
" in the grand evergreen rhododendrons. The Wood Thrush rarely appears 
"in its nothern home before the middle of May— often some days later — 
" at the time when the first flower-buds open upon the apple trees." 
The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) -. This 
is another very handsome North American Thrush, which is also 
known as the Red-l)reasted Thrush. 
It is a very beautiful species, witli dark ashy-grey upper 
surface, almost black at the top of the head ; tliroat, white with 
black striations ; breast, rich rufous-chestnut : abdomen and 
under-tail coverts, white. 
This species nests quite readily in an aviary and has 
