74 
Utciiipts ill Hrccdiiig Alhiiios. 
The tirsi victim \va> the cinnamon hen .>parro\v. though 
I'.iey had tifty less interesting birds to choose troni, and others 
followed in spite of several dogs being tied up round the aviary 
at night. 
I have caged the remainder indoors, incluchng the cock 
chaftiuch, the original hen sparrow and her son. the white hen 
and a son of the cinnamon hen. 
It is very difficult to make a really large aviary, containing 
shrubs, rat-proof, without great expense ; but doubtless there 
are many places where they are few and less enterprising. 
Unfortunately I like to be or. a creek or river, and so do they. 
The population on this particular spot is exceptionally crowded, 
so these 1)irds must l)e ke])t in cages for the present ; Init if any 
niember with suitable accommodation would like them for :i 
year, or perhaps longer, I should be pleased to len.d them. I low 
long will rats be allowed their present innnunity ? 
Traps are not effective for long, jjoison is always danger- 
ous, the introduction of patent virus has made no perceptible 
difference to the country, and rat-catchers are men of the world. 
If they could keep down rats effectively they wouldn't. W here 
is the man who will do himself out of his own job in the interests 
of the world at large? Xot all clergymen would vote for the 
total disappearance of sin. nor all doctors for the suppression of 
every disea.se. if their bread and butter disappeared at the same 
time. 
Perhaps local security miglit be o])tained by keeping 
(ioniesticated mong^ooses. snakes, or birds of i)rey. It would 
be interesting to hear of any lasting success gained Ijy such 
methods. 
.Some iieoplc objecl haughtily to hybrids and albiiio> on 
the ground that they are " freaks of nature."' But if one thing' 
is more natural than another it is to change; and man, since his 
early ancestor crawled from the primaeval slime and grew legs, 
must himself have produced more freaks than all the rest of 
creation. Whether we iruerferc with tlic animals or not. the\ 
will change. Fast or slow we shall cliangc witli them and 
become in time mere objects of curiosity to an unsym])athising 
and slightly disgusted posterity. 
