Correspondence. ly 



nor did they perch in near vicinity to eacli other, l)ut it was a 

 rare thinj^' to see them spar, and l)oth species were in my 

 Mitcham aviary tog'ether for three years, each species success- 

 fully nestiny^ and brin^-in^- up their young'. 



(To be eoiitiiiited). 







Correspondence. 



A TRIP TO EUROPE EOR BIRDS. 



Sir, — ThouL;h not in accord vvitli title at head of this, possibl}' the enclosed 

 photo of some of my water-fowl ma_\- interest " P>.N.'" readers. There are 

 Egyptian Geese, Canvas-back Ducks, and Mallard in ilie back-ground. The 

 White Swans m the ci-ntro I procured from Illminster, England 



I am much interest<d in Pird Notks, but quite a fcvV issues get lost 

 in the post unfortunately. " Notes on Jungle and other Wild Life " was 

 nost interesting; so, to me, was Mrs. Dickenson's article " A Seeker after 

 Pird Marts "--in fact I believe this lady and I would make a great team, for 

 it is always a bee-line for the bird market the nrst thing for me. 



As yo;i may lecall I was in England last January, bi.it had not the 

 l^leasure cf meeting you, and my wanderings to the bird stores in every town 

 visited remiufled me ot .Mrs. Dickinson's article. 



Those in London did not impress me very much. — The Zoo was good, 

 but much too crowded. Rotterdam for some reason had the Macaws, etc., 

 shut off from the public. Amsterdam was the best Zoological Garden visited 

 in the whole trip and Mr. Portilje made the day .a •nemorable one tor me. 

 To Amsterdam also goes the cor.rtesies e.\*^endcd by Mr. Blaauw. 



As regards the acquirement of birds my trip was practically a failure. 

 No bird stores were found, nor yet did 1 wish, to be encumbered with them 

 at the very start. For this reason Belgium and Germany yielded nothing, 

 but the Sunday bird market in Paris and I were close friends. Here ac- 

 quisitions began and were added to at Toulouse ;uid Marseilles. At this 

 latter place Black Swans with young gave me a terrible shock, for I had 

 twelve at one time and never saw even an egg. 



Nice had two bird stores, in one of which I thought the price demanded 

 meant for the whole business, so I bought nothing. 



.St^ores visited in France, Rome, and Naples yielded nothing, but Turin 

 did. 



As I went over hoping to accpurc White Peafowl, Geese and Ducks my 

 trip from that standpoint was a failure. Cage birds and a dog however did 

 increase the collection a little. 



In the West Indies it is different — very few stores, yet natives can be 

 dug up, if you enquire long and haid enough, who have this or that bird. 

 Macaws on stick's. Parrots on the hand, are the first and last you sec at the 



