164 



Avhen driving aloii<^ and were most affectionate to each other, 

 but I liad to crowd a lot of birds into one cage to avoid the 

 exorbitant charges of the P, and O. Co. for cages (they charge 

 _/"i for each), and the Blossom-heads killed these singing birds. 



I got three Doves in INIadras Market, very pretty little birds. 

 Two are evidently the same .species, blue heads with a black bar 

 across back of neck, the other is spotted all over on a brown 

 ground, round the neck a cape of white moons, very neat, 

 the\' seem very hardy. W. F. SmiThwick. 



In the Purple-capped Lory {Lorius doinicella) the sexes are 

 alike in plumage. I once possessed a female of the species 

 which laid and sat — and I believe this has happened before — 

 but I am not aware of any case in which young have been 

 reared, or even hatched. 



I am afraid it is impossible to break a parrot of a habit of 

 screaming. 



The Blue-crowned Hanging Parrakeet (Loricnlus galgulus) 

 belongs to a group of birds which require the same food as 

 Lories, but which are without the brush tongue, and are not 

 placed very near to the Lories by ornithologists. The Blue- 

 crowned is probably the best known. The red spot on the 

 throat is absent in the female. H. R. Fir,i,MER. 



DR. CRESWELL'vS CRriTCS. 



Sir, — I have derived great pleasure and instruction from 

 the articles appearing in this magazine under the title of " The 

 Story of Bird-Death," by Dr. W. G. Creswell. 



I think all will agree with me when I sa}- that we are 

 fortunate in possessing a member so well qualified to investigate 

 and explain the causes of the deaths of our pets. Nevertheless 

 I notice in some periodical comments on the terms used in the 

 articles, in a strain implying that they ought to be couched in 

 more familiar language. I am not a scientific man myself, by 

 any means, but I cannot help thinking that these terms used 

 by Dr. Creswell are not so much beyond the comprehension 

 of any of the members of the F. B. C. To our medical friends 

 naturally the terms would be most familiar, but even to an 

 individual like myself, who is not very well versed in path- 

 ology, one line explains another. I believe that most of us are 

 content with the use of the proper terms, and are not disposed 

 to grumble because they are a little out of the common. 

 Dictionaries and encyclopedias are cheap enough nowadays, 



