47 



I may mention to you another occurrence which is rather unusual. 

 I have about twenty-four Barbary Doves flying wild and breeding out in the 

 open ; ill the summer a wild Turtle-dove took up with them, and so far as I 

 know is still here — at any rate it has been to feed with them at the window 

 within the last few days, and is quite tame. 



If I can give any further information about my aviary I shall be glad 

 to do so. 



All I have in my cages in the house at present are : pair St. Helena 

 Waxbills, brought from Beaufort West, May, 1906 ; one Common South 

 African Waxbill ; one cock Red-headed Weaver ; one cock St. Helena Seed- 

 eater (which I wish to part with) ; one Silverbill ; one unknown bird ! ; and 

 pair Green Avadavats. 



The person who brought me the birds from Cape Colony is there now 

 again, and I am hoping for some more in May. It seems a great pity the 

 Cape Canary is not more often imported being a most charming bird ; the 

 Seed-eaters are rather quarrelsome I find. 



j6Ditorial. 



Thk Indigo Bird (Cyanospiza cyanea). This charming bird, once 

 freely imported and comparatively cheap, since the U. S. have prohibited 

 the importation of their avifauna, has become both rare and costly. How- 

 ever a few leak through occasionally and by the kindness of our esteemed 

 member, Mr. R. Suggitt, a fine male has recently found its way into my 

 aviary. This bird was justly a favourite when obtainable and I opine the 

 following quotations from Miss Mabel Osgood Wright's interesting paper in 

 Biid Lore, July-August, 1907, will interest .many of the admirers of this 

 lovely species. 



" Blue that is decided in tone, and not a bluish grey, is one of the rarest hues among: 

 " birds of temperate zones ; for one can count the really blue birds of the eastern United 



" States upon the fingers of one hand When it comes to painting the plumage of the 



" male in words, the task becomes difficult A merely technical description would 



'• read : Front of chin and head rich indigo blue, growing lighter and greener on back 

 " and underparts ; wings dusky brown, with blue edges to coverts ; tail feathers also blue 

 " edged ; bill and feet dark ; general shape rounded and Canary-like. The last of May, 

 " one of these Buntings came to a low bush, outside my window, and after resting awhile 

 " for the night had been stormy, dropped to the closely cut turf to feed upon the crumbs 

 " left where the hounds had been munching their biscuits. I have never seen amorebeauti- 

 " ful specimen, and the contrast with the vivid green grass seemed to develop the colour 

 " of malachite that ran along one edge of the feathers, shifting as the bird moved like the 



" sheen of changeable silks Alexander Wilson describes its plumage so : There is one 



"singularity, viz., that in some lights, his plumage appears of a rich sky-blue, and in- 

 "others of a rich verdigris-green ; so that the same bird in passing from one place to 

 " another before your eyes, seems to undergo a total change of colour. When the angle 

 " of incidence of the rays of light reflected is acute, the colour is green ; when obtuse, 



