G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 257 



BIRD-TRADE OF GERMANY WITH THE UNITED STATES. 



In a recent article upon the bird-trade of Germany with 

 the rest of the world, we are informed that the single firm of 

 Messrs. Reiche, of Alfeld, are in the habit of shipping immense 

 numbers of living birds to the United States, consisting main- 

 ly of canaries, but including also goldfinches, sparrows of ev- 

 ery species, including the house-sparrow, larks, etc. Their 

 shipments to this country during the year 1869 amounted to 

 26,000 canaries and 15,000 birds of other species the total 

 number of canaries exported by all the dealers to North 

 America amounting probably to not less than 45,000 annual- 

 ly. The shipments generally begin in the month of August, 

 with the first spring brood, and are continued uninterrupted- 

 ly until April. These, in nearly all instances, have been care- 

 fully trained before shipment, and it is now possible for a few 

 dollars to obtain birds that not many years ago would have 

 cost more than ten times that amount. 1 C, 1870, xxx., 473. 



PECULIARITIES OF THE FLORIDA WILD TURKEY. 



A gentleman who has spent a good deal of time in Florida 

 is decidedly of the opinion that ttie wild turkey of that state 

 is quite different from that of the North, and that it main- 

 tains a much closer relationship to the New Mexican turkey 

 (Meleagris Mexicana). According to his statement, the head 

 of the wild turkey of Florida is red, like that of the domestic, 

 its color in the Northern species of wild turkey being blue. 

 The flesh also is white, as in the domestic turkey, and the tip 

 of the tail fulvous instead of chestnut. The hunters from 

 Mississippi who visit lower Florida notice this difference in 

 the color of the heads of the Florida and Mississippi turkey, 

 and consider them distinct. The gentleman in question is not 

 familiar with the wild turkey of Northern Florida, and con- 

 fines his remarks to those on the southern portion of the Gulf 

 coast of that state. 



CHANGE IN THE HABITS OF THE KEA PARROT OF NEW 



ZEALAND. 



Mr. Potts, a well-known ornithologist of New Zealand, calls 

 attention, in a late number of Nature, to a curious change that 

 has taken place in the habits of the kea parrot, belonging to 



