Dr. M. Amsier—Labour Saving in the Aviary 329


economy, I think there is also this advantage, that there is very little

food left lying about, which in time might become sour or otherwise

unwholesome.


While on the subject of soft food it would be interesting to have

a census of those who moisten it with water, carrot, apple, etc., and

those who use some form of fat instead of water. For years I have

been using dripping, melted and mixed with the food in the proportion

of about 2 lb. of fat to 5 or 6 lb. of the mixture. Not long ago I asked

a leading exhibitor and judge of softbills how much fat he advised

one to use, and his answer was that fat was poison to softbills, and

that he was surprised that a man of my experience should use it.


1 hurried to my aviaries to see whether all my birds were dead, and

was relieved to find they looked much as usual. I do not keep the

very delicate and difficult species, and it is possible that my mixture

would upset such subjects as long-tailed Tits, Wrens, or Dartford

Warblers, on the other hand, the fatted food does not go sour and

is eaten to the last crumb—whereas food moistened with water often

smells bad at the end of one day in hot weather, and must be

thrown away.


In many a well-appointed aviary I have often seen catching nets

which almost made one weep. Sometimes they were old landing nets,

in which the poor birds, of course, become hopelessly entangled, more

often one sees an ordinary butterfly net which is also an unsuitable

weapon. Birds are usually caught up in the outer-flight portion of

the aviary—-the roof of which is flat—-a pear-shaped ring to the net

is therefore wrong, the best shaped ring is an equilateral triangle

with its apex at the handle of the net, which should be a thick broom¬

stick, 2 or 3 feet long.


The ring itself is best made of stout galvanized iron wire and a

most important point is that it should be well padded. This is done

by wrapping a large amount of cotton wool or tow round the wire

and keeping it in position by a spiral binding of thin string—the net,

made of butter muslin, can then be fixed on—-it should be about


2 to 3 feet deep and conical in shape, deep so that the bird does not

easily escape when once caught, and conical so that one does not have

to hunt for him in the corners of the net.



