157 



Some of the Standards of the N. B. B. and M. C. 

 for Judging British birds are republished and the 

 Club's list of desirable cage birds is also given. 



One word seems to me applicable to the illustra- 

 tions — "Unequal." Some are really splendid, and 

 others could have been very well spared. Among the 

 latter is the tail piece to the volume which is styled 

 "The Bunting." For our part we quite fail to make 

 out which of "THE" buntings the sketch purports to 

 represent. The illustration of the Bullfinch portrays an 

 unmitigated Siberian, and is likely to mislead a novice 

 in British Bullfinches. Many of us would like to 

 have a Nightingale of the size of the one on page 45. 

 The illustration on page 67 is a fair representation of 

 a Lesser Redpoll and a Mealy Redpoll, but is labelled 

 "Brown and Lesser Redpoll Linnets. These are, 

 however, only slight blemishes in a most valuable 

 work, w^hich no lover of British birds can afford to be 

 without. 



W. A. L. 



JBi'itisb BivD IRotcs, 



A friend of mine lias heard the Cuckoo as near town as 

 Peckhani — about three miles from the Royal Exchange— a 

 verj' unusual occurrence. 



A non-fancier of my acquaintance has a cock Goldfinch 

 and can vouch for the fact of its having been in captivity over 

 thirteen and a half years. 



Mr. Galloway's Swallow, which man}' of us have seen (last 

 time at the Crystal Palace Autunni Show), has finished its 

 third yearly moult in captivity, and is now in song. It has 

 never had a day's illness during the three years it has been 

 caged. INIr. Galloway succeeded in rearing the following soft- 

 bills this spring : Green Woodpecker, Greater vSpotted Wood- 

 pecker, Sedge Warbler, Tree Creeper, Chiffchaff, Lesser White- 

 throat, Golden-crested Wren, W^ood Warbler, and Wryneck. 



