i8 



Finch, Green-singing Finch, Grey-singing Finch 

 Saffron Finch, Virginia Cardinal, Red-crested Cardinal, 

 Green Cardinal, Nonpareil, Indigo Bnnting, Moorish 

 House Bunting. Now this leaves a number of common 

 species which have never been bred, and an innumerable 

 host of rare ones. 



I should like to see our Club doing something to 

 encourage the breeding of species never bred before — 

 but what form such encouragement should take is a 

 difficult question. It is well to bear in mind that the man 

 who succeeds in breeding a rare bird is not by any 

 means necessarily a more skilfnl aviculturist than the 

 man who fails. If one is prepared to devote a large out- 

 door aviary to a single pair, and provide, for such birds 

 as require it, an unlimited supply of insect food, the 

 breeding of almost all species becomes merely a matter 

 of time, patience, and money. The expediency, there- 

 fore, of bestowing a special honour or reward for the 

 breeding oi each new species is open to question. 



Would it not be possible for the Club to award a 

 medal, or other substantial token of merit, to those who 

 have, in the opinion of the Council, done most for the 

 advancement of aviculture during the year } The 

 number of such awards would, of course, have to be 

 restricted, sa}' to not more than two a year, or even one. 

 I doubt whether they should be limited to members of 

 the Club ; on the whole I think not, but non-members 

 ■ought to be required to pay the cost of the medal before 

 receiving it. The medal would probably always be 

 awarded to someone who had bred a new species, bnt the 

 Council would take into consideration the difficulties 

 which the breeder had contended against, in deciding 

 between several claims. 



There may be objections, not apparent to me, to this 

 suggestion. I commend it, for what it is worth, to the 

 consideration of the Council of the Foreign Bird Club. 



Randolph Quin. 



