44 



Class ii6. A?ij' other ''Variety''^ Resident (21). 

 When will the L. & P.O.S. Show Committee drop the 

 word " Variety" in connection with British and Foreign 

 Birds, and use the proper expression " Species " ? In 

 some of the classes the correct word is used, but the 

 letters" A.O.V." seem, like the Crj'stal Palace spelling- 

 of " Redpole" for "Redpoll, to die very hard, and they 

 still crop up in Classes 116 and T17. We had in this 

 class the ver\' interesting opportunity of studying at 

 close quarters three different species of Woodpecker ; 

 the Lesser Spotted, Greater Spotted and Green. Two 

 of these, the Lesser Spotted, ist, and the Green, 4th, 

 were shown b}' Mr. Maxwell in his best style. In the 

 staging of show-birds Air. Maxwell stands out by him- 

 self, and his birds always show that with proper 

 attention and feeding no cruelty whatever is involved 

 in keeping birds in cages. His other exhibits in this 

 class were a fine Stonechat, 1649, H.C., and a Wren, 

 1648, unnoticed. I failed to see why this latter bird was 

 not in the money — it was in perfect feather, beautifully 

 shown, and in my opinion better than 1652, Snell, 

 another Wren, which won 2nd. This latter was a 

 beauliful little l)ird, but I prefer 164S of the two. 

 1657, Gough, 3rd, a grand Missel Thrush, looked well. 

 1655, Stockhausen, Y.H.C., a good Greater Spotted 

 Woodpecker, referred to above. 1660, Howe, V.H.C., 

 a very beautiful Blue Tit, well worthy of his card, and a 

 bargain at catalogue price; no chance to be higher in 

 such company. A good Nuthatch, Sampson and 

 Exton, was H.C. 1659, a Lapwing, is surely not a 

 cage bird, and was very rightly passed without a card. 

 A curiosity, as an exhibition bird, in this class was a 

 common House Sparrow, and there were also a Hedge 

 Sparrow and a Tree Sparrow. A suggestion to the 

 L. and P. O. S.— why not take a hint from the success 

 of the Greenfinch class, which this year had no less 

 than forty entries, and provide a class for Any Species 



