Ornithological Chronicle. 
from wliicli 1 conclude tluil the stroui,^ light and the heat have a 
beneficial influence in this transformation. My Jackson and 
liiant widow-birds have remained outside: the first has finished 
changing" its feathers; the other is still clianging colour. 
l.ast Spring, during a shower of rain. 1 found some 
])heasants in my aviaries. All the birds were in the shelter. 
Suddenly, 1 noticed in the cage of tlie Temminck's Tragopans, :i 
male Barraband parrot stretched on the grass, wings and tail 
stretched out; I thought it had been attacked, and hurried oui 
despite the rain. The bird flew away; puzzded, 1 returned to my 
hiamg place. A few seconds later, the parrot was again on 
the ground, stretching its wings and tail on the wet grass, 
rubbing its head on it, and ruffling its feathers to expose them 
to the rain. On its ])erch the bird was only able to enjoy 
imperfectly the pleasures of the downpour: how was it to 
receive the shower bath on the lower part of the body? You 
see how it solved the problem. Xow-a-days, when I see it 
rolling in the g'rass. I call to mind my anxiety of last year. 
One of our readers writes us that in twenty-four hours 
he lost fourteen birds, among which were nine I'opes of Noumea 
and one Red-tailed Diamant. The evening before, he had had 
l)lanted in his aviaries some Thuyas, whose berries had attracted 
the greed of the birds, and had been devoured in a few seconds. 
Were these berries the cause of the accident ? Probably so. Yet 
we know of many aviaries planted with Thuyas, in which 
abnormal deaths have not occurred. Were not these shrul)s 
more ])robably yews (Taxus), whose red berries, fatal to human 
l)eings. are also probably fatal to certain birds, and is it neces- 
sary to repeat to the amateur the advice of \'irgil to the frientl 
of the bees : 
A'cit propiiis fcctis fa.viiiii sine} .... 
Among the trees to be recommended for planting in an aviary 
we mention Cryptomeria elegans and japonica, Retinosi)ora, 
Abies, Cupressus, I^rivets, Spindle-trees, Bamboos, Auculjas, 
Box-trees, -various fruit trees. Klders, etc 
The iiuidc to the hird ninoiciir {Bibliotlicqiic dc Cliassc 
cf Pcclic. Brussels 1917) by the late lamented .Mfred Sacre. who 
was the president founder of the Ornithological Society of East 
Belgium, is certainly the best work of its kind which has been 
written in the French language. 
