Website:

The Avicultural Society

Avicultural Society Aims & Objectives

The Avicultural Society is an independent, non-profit making organisation founded in 1894 "for the study of British and foreign birds in the wild and in captivity." It covers the keeping and breeding of all types of birds other than domesticated varieties such as canaries, budgerigars, Bengalese and Zebra Finches, etc. It has a broad-based membership of amateur (private) and professional aviculturists in many countries around the world, though predominantly in the UK (where it is based) and in the USA.

Avicultural Society membership details

Membership for those living in the UK is £18 per year and £21 for those outside the UK (payable on January 1st each year). Members and subscribers receive four 48-page issues of the Avicultural Magazine per year. The majority of articles, often illustrated by colour photos, are about keeping and breeding foreign birds and are written by knowledgeable private aviculturists, zoo staff and those working in other public and private collections. There are also descriptions of collections at home and abroad, birdwatching trips to tropical destinations, reports on the society's conservation projects, papers on various aspects of bird behaviour, reminiscences, book reviews and a news and views section.

Avicultural Society contact details

Hon. Secretary / Treasurer,
Paul Boulden,
Arcadia,
The Mounts,
East Allington,
Totnes,
Devon, TQ9 7QJ.

E-mail: Paul@pboulden.fsnet.co.uk

Hon. Editor,
Malcolm Ellis,
The Chalet,
Hay Farm,
St Breock,
Wadebridge,
Cornwall, PL27 7LL.

E-mail: editor@avisoc.co.uk

You can learn a whole lot more about the Avicultural Society by visiting its website - www.avisoc.co.uk - which has all the relevant information about the society, along with a selection of articles from previous issues and an index listing every article which has appeared in the magazine since the first issue was published way back in November 1894.

The website can be used to join the society and to order back issues of the magazine. The society has a large stock mostly from 1935 onwards but also has some earlier issues still available. Those living outside the UK may be able to pay by credit card through a PayPal invoice, but this service is not available in all countries.

Avicultural Society Newsflash

Vol.115, No.2, due out shortly, will be a 64-page special issue devoted to Dr Henry Quinque's work with the Kagu, a rare, flightless bird from the South Pacific island of New Caledonia, which he has been keeping and breeding for more than 30 years at Le Mesnil Aubry, near Paris. The following issue will include articles on the Black-collared Lovebird, iron storage disease (haemochromatosis) in lories, hand-rearing pigeons and doves, breeding the Lesser Kiskadee and whether Prince Ruspoli's Turaco is threatened by hybridization with the White-cheeked Turaco in southern Ethiopia, research on which is being partly funded by the Avicultural Society and International Turaco Society (ITS).

Saturday, September 19th, there will be a visit to Arnold Zwetsloot's waterfowl collection, near Sandy, Bedfordshire. And, following successful visits to see Dr Quinque's collection, Vogelpark Walsrode, Tierpark Berlin and Zoo Berlin, the weekend of October 2nd-5th this year, the society plans to visit Parc Paradisio and a private collection in Belgium.