252



Edward Boosey—Gentlemen only



of the true Nightingale’s song, which to be fully appreciated needs to

be suddenly heard in a moon-dappled wood, where all else is summer-

night silence.


The Cardinal’s first companion was a Pekin Robin who had been

singing with particular sweetness in a cage, so that the former’s per¬

petual “ Chee-ow . . . Chee-ow . . . cheow . . . chow . . . chow . . .

chow . . . chow ”, was now intermingled with the song of the Pekin

Robin, which was such a heartening sound during the bitter weather

we had in May, and which, I always think, is one of the most joyful

little lays imaginable.


The April weather was warm when the Pekin Robin was intro¬

duced, and immediately afterwards I turned a Rufous-bellied Niltava

into the aviary. I had had him for three weeks or so in a cage in a warm

room, during which time he lived exclusively on sweet ripe apples and

about seven mealworms a day, disdaining all other food he was offered.

When I caught him up to put him in the aviary he had some sort of

fit, and I gave him up for lost, but when he was almost dead he made a

miraculous recovery by dint of being given, on the end of a small

paintbrush, a mixture of egg and milk beaten up with a very little

brandy, which incidentally is the most marvellous concoction for saving

the life of a bird already in extremis.


Having been warned by Mr. Anthony Chaplin that Niltavas had

weak lungs, and by Dr. Amsler that they were decidedly “ difficult ”

birds, it was somewhat in fear and trembling that I finally turned

him into the aviary.


He proceeded to roost in a low bush and next morning I hurried

forth fearing he would probably have pneumonia, but found him

none the worse for his night out. Shortly afterwards the weather

became really Arctic and there was ice on the pond two mornings

running.


I determined to take the Niltava in again, but he looked so well

I delayed his removal indoors, and the extraordinary thing is he not

only continued to look well, but he actually improved during all that

bitterly cold unpleasant weather.


Quite probably he is a particularly “ tough ” specimen of a

Niltava, but even so I think his survival of about the worst our climate



