All rights reserved]. [January, 1909. 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE 



JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



Jibe painteD Jfincb. 



(yEmblema picta). 

 By Wesley T. Page, F.Z.S. 



It would be merely a waste of space to indulge in any 

 eulogy of these beautiful and uncommon birds with Mr. Good- 

 child's faithful drawing accompanying these notes. Till this 

 season (1908) the}' have been almost unknown to English avicul- 

 ture, and even on the Continent the species has only been repre- 

 sented by odd specimens at long intervals. 



About Easter, 1908, Messrs. Payne and Wallace brought 

 over a large consignment of Australian birds, etc., among which 

 were fifteen pairs of this lovely species ; a pair of which came 

 into my possession about the middle of May, and though they 

 never became really fit (at least the $ did not), for a time hope ran 

 high, a nest was built and much occupied, but all my hopes were 

 effectually extinguished by the death of the $ on August 2nd. 

 When the body was opened the organs were all in a normal and 

 healthy condition, except the liver which was slightly jaundiced. 

 The ovary contained quite a number of minute eggs, which only 

 made the occurrence the more disappointing. 



I have much regretted since that I let my fears, as to the 

 behaviour of larger species in my outdoor aviary, prevail ; as I 

 strongly incline to the opinion that they would have fared better 

 out of doors, at any rate during the summer months ; if more 

 are imported I shall certainly try my luck with them in the open. 



After making extensive enquiries I found that the proba- 

 bility of my procuring another hen was practically nil ; I sold the 

 (J to one of our members for exhibition purposes, and it was 

 successful for its new owner at the L.C.B.A. recent show. 



Thus ended (for the time being at any rate) my high hopes 

 and expectations of breeding the species. I think one of our 



