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own special keeping, few pursuits are more fascinating 

 than bird trapping, A small trap, " made in Germany," 

 shaped like two elongated Q D s, made of strong wire 

 and covered with fine netting, with a stout spring in the 

 middle, is the handiest and best thing I know of. It is 

 simpl}' pinned to the ground with a couple of wire 

 hooks at each end of the spring, which is the straight 

 part of the D, one half bent right back and set with a 

 mealworm for a bait (which should be the only thing 

 left visible) the net, etc., being loosely covered with 

 leaves or grass. This trap can, of course, be made any 

 size, but the most suitable is about r4in. by loin. Bird 

 lime is easily obtained anywhere, and is the only means 

 by which we can get some birds. A friend of mine told 

 me he used to catch all his Golden-crested Wrens bj^ its 

 aid : liming the end of a long fishing rod, and following 

 the birds around the trees until he had the opportunit}- 

 of striking one and bringing it to the ground. For 

 catching the various tits there is perhaps nothing better 

 than the common double trap cage, using as a decoy a 

 bird of the same species as we wish to capture. The 

 great advantage we get in trapping our own birds, is that 

 we are able to keep them from hungering from the time 

 we take them until we cage them : for a bird that has 

 been caught for several hours, and kept without food 

 during that time, is too w^eak and depressed in spirit to 

 be a suitable subject for meating off succesfnlly. 

 (To be Contiiniedj . 



PARROTS AND PARRAKEETS. 



By Dr. C. vS. Simpson, 



(Continued from page I3gj . 

 Thk Grey Parrot [Psittacns erithacus) is of all 

 foreign cage birds the best known and the most popular. 

 It inhabits West and Central Africa, from Guinea, 

 Senegambia, and the Congo region to the East of Lake 

 Nyanza. Gre}' Parrots are especially numerous on 

 Prince's Island, and here they live in flocks, breeding in 



