On Outdoor 
Aviaries. 
(15) THE BIRD WORLD. 
first word is, “How are the birds? Are they 
still out of doors? Have you lost many—and 
do they stand the cold?” 
Hidebound Conventionality. 
When I was a young" man, and indeed up 
to only a few years since, it was a tremendous 
rarity to see an aviary out in the garden, and 
even at the Zoological Gardens they are only 
just emerging from the thraldom of hidebound 
conventionality, since it is only about two years 
ago that, with many quakings and tremors of 
heart, even the parrots were experimented upon 
as outside dwellers, while even now the extra¬ 
ordinary spectacle can be seen of “ the more 
delicate ” avian species being kept in glass cases 
in a superheated room! Many of us can recall 
the virtuous indignation with which Mr. Wes- 
lev T. Page was greeted when some few years 
back he greatly dared to i 3 ublish the face that 
he actually kept Waxbills and such like out of 
doors. It is only a matter of months since the 
fond delusion that the Gouldian finch needed an 
“ inferno ” to keep him alive was shattered by 
the quiet narration of Capt. Perreau in Bird 
Notes of his Gouldians having travelled with 
him for months, and even bred, in regions 
which he described as not merely cold for India, 
but cold for anywhere. It is only a matter of a 
few weeks since a prominent writer in the Avi- 
cultural Magazine delivered himself of the fol¬ 
lowing remarkable passage : “ The one great 
danger to be guarded against is 1-resh 
Air! ! ! Say what you like, with delicate birds 
fresh air kills, while a stuffy atmosphere, objec¬ 
tionable though it be, need not do so, nor need it 
sow the seeds of disease or impair the health.” 
But, as we see, these old-fashioned notions 
are being gradually replaced by better and 
wiser counsels; the ranks of the “delicate” birds 
are steadily being thinned to recruit those of the 
“ hardy ” ones; and there are to-day probably 
as many outdoor aviaries up and down the coun¬ 
try as there are towns and villages in the king¬ 
dom. There only remains now, first to still 
further increase the number of these aviaries, 
and secondly to realise that most of 'the birds 
that are still supposed to be “ delicate ” are really 
quite able, like Mrs. Anningson’s Tanagers, to 
withstand in this country -\Vhat, after all, so we 
are assured by foreigners, is one of the most 
equable climates in the world—in spite of all 
our English grumbling to the contrary. 
No Need of Expense. 
Of outdoor aviaries there are many sorts. 
There is the elaborate affair, fitted with elec¬ 
tric light, hot water apparatus, and ever-jetting 
fountains, only to be compassed by the man of 
wealth. At the other end of the scale there is 
Mr. Sydney L. Cock’s (Peterboro’) Aviary. 
The owner states : This aviary was bui.t as a last resort for cirin^ BuBhnch hens from persistently laying soft-shelled eggs, 
and achieved its object.” 
