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Edward Boosey—Gentlemen only



ments of birds in this way with far less difficulty than would be

experienced by individual dealers and importers. The price might be

higher, but I am sure I speak for the majority of members, as well as

for myself, when I say that we would prefer to pay more for birds

about the manner of whose importation we had no qualms.


If such a co-operative scheme could be introduced it would have the

additional advantages of providing us with birds in better condition,

because more carefully packed and better treated en route ; and also

of bringing within the reach of our members many of those species

now almost unobtainable because the ordinary dealer or importer

has, perforce, to supply a demand, and that demand is mostly for the

better-known species.


There must be a very considerable number of species suitable for

aviculture which have never yet been imported—and never will be,

so long as birds are only brought over to meet an existing demand.


A collector, acting on behalf of a society most of whose members

are only too anxious to secure and experiment with new species,

and in co-operation with an importer or importers sure of a

demand for such rare birds, should be in a much better position to

secure them. It will be seen that, apart from practical difficulties,

about which I am not qualified to speak, the success of any or all of

these suggestions depends upon the extent to which we, as members

of a society, are prepared to co-operate for our mutual advantage, and

in order to mitigate an abuse which, I feel confident, must be a source

of considerable heart-searching to many others besides myself.



GENTLEMEN ONLY


By Edward Boosey


To a person possessing but one naturally planted aviary it is always

rather a problem to decide what selection of birds to house in it.


If one is going in exclusively for breeding, none but the very largest

and most thickly planted enclosures can safely contain more than

a few breeding pairs with any real prospect of success, though this

may be fun for the birds it is less amusing for their owners, for so few



