Ali rights 7-esetved,'] [OCTOBER, 1906. 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE JOURNAL OF 



THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



Some IReminiecencee of w\\} i6ai Iv 3)av6 

 of Jforeign BirD Ikeepma. 



By J, A. Swan. 

 {Continued from page 71). 

 Another very daintily coloured little bird is the 

 Silverbill, with its tints ranging from pearl, through 

 bufif, to brown. I have only had two or three of the 

 species, as I found them somewhat uninteresting after 

 a time; but nevertheless their quiet gentle manner 

 and confiding disposition make them by no means the 

 least desirable specimens in a mixed collection. My 

 birds were all of the African species, and one of them 

 sang rather prettily in an undemonstrative sort of way. 

 They were easy to cater for, seeming to desire nothing 

 beyond the usual seeds, though at times grass in the 

 ear would be eaten with great relish. Bathing they 

 were naturally fond of — by-the-way I do not know 

 whether any of our members have noticed it, but from 

 my observations it appears to me that birds hailing 

 from a tropical climate bathe more frequently than 

 those whose original habitat was in more temperate 

 zones. Whether this is the continuance of their 

 natural or wild life, or mere fancy on my part, I am 

 not prepared to assert dogmatically ; perhaps, how- 

 ever, some of our readers would let us know whether 

 their observations bear out this theory or otherwise. 



