46 ' C. N. Abrahams—Experiences and Incidents in South Africa


movements, until finally, to my amazement, I saw that he was feeding

two or three recently flown young Missel Thrushes—such is the urge

to feed that he had taken on these monsters ! My other disappointments

were all very similar, except that on one occasion I found six young

apparently dead when only two days old ; these were put in a cool

oven. Two revived and one of them was hand-reared by my servants

to the age of twelve days, when he gave up the ghost—he was a poor

specimen anyhow. The cause of his death was “ enteritis ”.


Who of us does not make resolutions for next year—mine are a

fixed programme of death and destruction to rats, stoats, weasels,

and forgive me, my dear Editor, all species of Owls, but more especially

the “ little ’un ”



EXPERIENCES AND INCIDENTS IN SOUTH


AFRICA


By C. N. Abe ah ams


Our good Secretary has asked me to say a few words about our

birds and aviaries at “ Ma Demeure ”, Claremont, South Africa, for

the Magazine. This I do with the greatest of pleasure and hope it will

be of interest to fellow members. I say “ ours ”, because aviculture

is not a “ one-man hobby ” in our home. My wife and son are just as

interested as I am. My wife knows as much, in fact more than I do,

about our little feathered friends. Trained and woman-like, she does

all the doctoring and nursing and cares for these little things, with

an instinct and gentleness which makes me feel quite envious—but

helpless. I do the donkey work—play the stupid part.


Aviculture is one of my later hobbies. My chief hobby is viticulture.

Growing grapes for experience and show. We never really decided to

take up aviculture. It just seemed to grow on us in a simple kind of

way.


It was my little son’s birthday, and we were at a loss to know what

to give him. Being naturalistically inclined, we decided on three pairs

of small wild birds, and an aviary. One pair Orange-breasted Waxbills,

one pair Blue-breasted, and one pair Ruddy Waxbills was the start.



