NEW USE FOR THE "BUDGIE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 8

NEW USE FOR THE "BUDGIE"

Boys who keep birds —and their elders also who indulge in the same hobby—will be delighted in the news from London today that a nujnber of budgerigars have been installed in the typists' room at the Manchester works of the British Dyestuffs Corporation." It is said that the notes of these quaint little lovebirds "may lessen the fatigue caused by the monotonous noise of the 50 Machines." This new use for the 'budgie" will appeal to the juvenile ornithologist and encourage him in :he rearing of fresh broods to supply the demand, which has been falling away a little since the peak of the wave of fashion in aviaries. Whal is not. explained is the possible effect of the noise of the typewriters on the nerves of these companionable birds which are nothing if not mimics. Will they not proceed to give an excellent imitation of a typewritei under full pressure of steam anc make the din more distracting still? Probably the corporation has triec that out and found the results satis factory. So we may imagine th( clatter of the typewriter subdued ir the background of the music of the choir of budgerigars and the nerves of the typists soothed by the nove harmony. If the experiment sue ceeds, the next thing will be to appl; the principle of bird-music as i counter to, other mechanical noises Here is room for much ingenuity ii finding a species of bird-noise as ! counterblast to the pneumatii riveter, the motor-cycle exhaust, am the slam-banging and screeching oi trams, or even the exuberant jazz oi | the radio. |f r