A DUNEDIN CANARY AVIARY.

Otago Witness, Volume 02, Issue 2420, 2 August 1900, Page 44

A DUNEDIN CANARY AVIARY.

THE FINEST IN NEW ZEALAND,

At the last Dunedin Poultry, etc., show there were in the canary section 41 entries, 19 being from the aviary of Mr Kerr at Mornington. Of these 19 birds eight won firsts (three carrying specials), seven took seconds, and two earned thirds ; and though nearly all classes were competed, only in two cases did this fancier's birds fail to account for a card.

Meeting Mr Kerr at the show, and presuming to congratulate him upon his wonderful success, 1 was pleased in the course of a conversation to learn some interesting facts concerning Lis hobby, and to receive an invitation to visit his aviary. - Mr Kerr informed me that he had been an unfailing exhibitor of canaries at Dunedin shows since .1885/ and for many years has shown at all centres from Wellington to the Bluff — he would show "at' Auckland also, only for the fear that his birds M'ouid suffer on such a long trip. He attributes his uniform and great success to the fact, above all others, that he- invariably procures his breeding stock from the most noted breeders. Whoever or. wherever the breeder may bo it -is the one with the best reputation, for the time being, who gets Mr Kerr'a order, which is invariably couched in terms somewhat as follows: — "Enclosed please find £ , for which sum oblige by sending the best value you can — one or more birds, as the case may be." "In this way," (•aid Mr Kerr, " stating merely the particular l.reed I want I leave myself entirely in the hands of the breeder, Avith the result that my experience as an importer has always been the happiest in every respect." " But once,'' continued Mr Kerr, "and that mistakenly, and foi a short time only, did I suffer disappointment. In this instance, amongst other birds imported from England, was a green hen of a type which seemed to me very inferior, but taking the advice — though sceptically — conveyed in an accompanying letter, ' I took great care of the green hen,' with the result that in the second nest I got a cqtk bird, which I will show you, and with which I would not care to part."

Mr Kerr's aviary is a specially-erected building, 41ft in length and 12ft wide. It has 9ft high walls, and the roof slopes from both sides, giving an extra inside height to the structure of about another 4ft. The Avhole interior of the room is painted enamel-white, prettily pointed with blue lines, the effect being very pleasing. Ranged alongside one wall from floor to ceiling are five tiers of cages — 56 breeding and about three dozen show — the latter being the top tier, and having sloped roofs to correspond with the ceiling of the room. The inside woodwork of the cages is all light blue, the wires being white, enamelled' paint being used in all eases. The upper half of the opposite side of the room — the south-east — is one lemg window of sliding sashes, beneath being three large drop cages, two being Bffc by 6ft by 3ft.each, and the third 6ft by 6ft by 3ft. These cages, which at the time of my visit held a large number of birds, are so constructed — end to end — that if required they may form one long aviary, 22ft in length, and by an ingenious contrivance of hinges they can, by the withdrawal of a few pins, be made to collapse flat against the wall, quite out of the way, and almost out of sight, at the will of the attendant. The scheme apparently is to use them only pending the "breeding season, when, of course, the birds being mated off to their respective cages the aviaries are no longer required.

In all, Mr Kerr has now about 140 birds, including plain, crested and crested-bred Norwich ; cinnamons, plain and crested ; Lancashire coppies, and Yorkshire canaries. Such a variety of shades and colours ! " Look at this group," said Mr Kerr, " and tell me, if you can, which you consider to be the orthodox canary yellow?" I " gave it up," all shades of yellow, from the palest — some verging on white, some on the lightest green — to the richest orange-red, being represented. Some colour-fed ones of an indescribable ex-quisitely-warm red-yellow glow colour looked all the more beautiful surrounded as they were, in the larger drop cages, by birds of buff, green, and variegated plumage. As regards size, shape, and style, inexperienced as I am in this particular fancy, I fear I can express myself but poorly to the initiated, but to the novice 1 may say that from the smallest and most delicate-looking, yet graceful, hens to the valuable cock bird already mentioned (not much less in size than a blackbird) - all grades are in evidence at Mr Kerr's; and, taken as a whole, a, more sprightly, cheerful, attractive, companionable, and sweeter-voiced crowd one need never aspire to meet with.

In addition to the sliding sash windows on the side wall I should mention that one end of the room is also glazed, and, with a view to perfect ventilation, a series of ventilators $rg

arranged along the whole length of the roof of the building. The arrangements for sanitation, in short, are most complete. The cages 'are" cleaned out at regular and short intervals," * and without fail all drinking vessels — some 70 in number just now — are scalded out every day. " You would not think, perhaps," said Mr Kerr, " that the seemingly al-ways-clean beak of a canary could contaminate water however often it might be dipped in, but if you will watch how readily tho colouring' disappears from this water after I put a drop of Condy's fluid into it you will see that it is already contaminated; for, as you know, the colour would remain a cortsiderablft time if the water was pure." Mr Kerr feeds about Bcwt of seed to his birds pep annum, using different kinds according to _ and condition. Owing to losses by starvation he does not approve of that mate of canary cage having a small hole through whioh the bird puts its head to get food or water. He explained to me that where- so many birds are kept, it is quite possible, when engaged talking to a visitor or otherwise, to accidentally replace a trough just so much to one eide of the aperture as to render it impossible for a bird to supply itself, and he one© lost a valuable bird in this way ; he now maker all bis cages with wide-apart wires, so that wherever the vessel may be hung the birdl can always help itself.

That Mr Kerr has a great reputation as a successful canary breeder is made clear to all visitors id his aviaries by two kinds of evidence; firstly, by the scrap-books and boxes full of cards, of exhibition wins, and trophies in the shape. of gold medals, silver cups, a handsoma timepiece, etc., and secondly, by heaps, of correspondence from all parts of the colony, asking for birds or quotations. To particularise but one of Mr Kerr's triumph on the show bench I may say that he onoe competed for five trophies, each to be won twice in succession or threß times at intervals, and won the lot. Mr Kerr is a busy man outside of his hobby consequently one would think that his bird 3 would lake up all his spare time, but" such, is not the case. He apparently believes in the theory tfaat^mental, like physical, rest ia better attainable by change than by idleness; and, acting on this princii^le, — not that he ever gets tired of his birds, but to prevent a pleasure becoming a craze — he has recently developed a leaning towai'ds

CATS ! "What a. transposition of ideas J ,Mr Kerr's fancy in this connection is the Persian, and at the time of my visit he had some very &c specimens of the blue and tabby. Two of the blue — a pair — he keeps in a 60ft long coveredin run; a third— a tabby— l saw basking at liberty in the sunlight. The Persian is of the long-£aired variety of cat ; and is regarded by fanciers as the most attractive of the ejjecies. At first sight the Persians suggest a something; doglike in their appearance, chiefly, perhaps, because of their long hair on the neck — called the mane — and on the whole length of the tail ; but in their habits, ' from mousing to coaxing for a frienu*!y scratch, they are as typical as the veriest midnight squallers.