Beviews



27



Pheasant chicks with foster-mother hens. We have raised with Domestic

Hens Impeyans, Firebacks, Peacock, Eared, Swinhoe, and other rare

Pheasants, as well as all the more common kinds, and have had all the

heart-breaking failures most Pheasant raisers have met with, including

the loss this season of two weeks’ old Argus chicks. If we don’t make the

same mistake twice we are satisfied that we are improving. We have

had some delightful and satisfactory results here for which we can

fairly give most of the credit to our wonderful climate. Too much credit

cannot be given to aviculturists who successfully rear young under

the climatic handicaps you must experience in Europe.


We often wonder if, in the rearing of Pheasants particularly, too

much dependence is not often placed on the kind of feed used and too

little on the proper handling of the birds otherwise, such as sanitation,

warmth, protection, and so on. We believe more birds are lost by

improper care than by improper food. Proper food is, of course,

important, but proper care is equally if not more so. If the above

rambling remarks are of interest to our members we feel well repaid

for the effort taken in putting down as nearly as possible all the little

details we have noticed in the rearing of these handsome Pheasants.



REVIEWS


AUSTRALIAN GRASS FINCHES 1


Here is a book which every aviculturist will have to read and almost

certainly buy, for it is a complete natural history of this delightful

group of small seed-eaters which appeal to all with their beauty,

adaptability, and comparative readiness to breed, and whose only

drawback is the difficulty of getting so many of them nowadays,

though perhaps that may increase rather than detract from their

attraction.


Mr. Cayley’s book deals exhaustively with and illustrates every

species in colour ; each account is divided into two portions, the first

dealing with the wild life (Description, Distribution, Field Notes, etc.),

the second avicultural, where everything we want to know in this line


1 Australian Finches in Bush and Aviary. By Neville W. Cayley, F.R.Z.S.

Messrs. Angus and Robertson, Ltd., Sydney. 1932.



