I05 



exist, and his doing so in the pages of Bird Notes looks very 

 like an affront upon some of his colleagues. 



Birds, other than domestic Poultry and Pigeons, have great 

 and obvious disadvantages when used for bionomical experi- 

 ments — and I can scarcely think that they will ever be so used, 

 to any considerable extent. I prefer, however, to leave that 

 question to abler hands than mine, and will not trespass 

 further upon your space except to point out a few of Mr. Finn's 

 incidental inaccuracies. 



Mr. Fnin has apparently decided to his own satisfaction 

 that the Bengalese is descended from one of the species of 

 Uroloncha. This may be, and in all probability is, the case — 

 but I believe that no definite proof of it has yet been given. 

 But he has apparently mixed up U. aciUicaiida with U. striata, 

 for U. acuticauda can scarcely be called "dark brown," while 

 U. striata is properly so described. The names of the two 

 species are quite commonly reversed b}' bird-dealers, but it is 

 odd that a professional ornithologist like Mr. Finn should fall 

 a victim to this confusion. 



It is most misleading to say that Goldfinches " need :nuch 

 the same treatment as Canaries." Every hybrid breeder knows 

 how his difficulties are increased by the contrary being the fact. 

 It is difficult to keep Goldfinches in health for long without such 

 a liberal use of hemp or other oily seeds as is apt to upset the 

 livers of Canaries kept in the same cage. 



Horatio R. Fii.i.mer. 



IS EGG NEEDFUL .' 

 Sir, — Having just come into possession of a fine male 

 Greenfinch-Canary hybrid, the gift of Dr. Creswell, who bred 

 it in his aviary the year before last, I take this to be a favour- 

 able opportunity of showing what can be produced in the way 

 of excellence without the use of egg-food, a form of diet which 

 in my opinion ought to be invariably abstained from in the 

 breeding and rearing of birds. It cannot be too strongly 

 deprecated, since it has been clearly shown by medical men, 

 who have studied the matter in the most impartial manner, 

 that egg food forms an ever ready nidus for those septic germs 

 which are so common a cause of avian mortality. And it is 

 not only an ever ready nidus for the germs but it has also been 

 proved beyond dispute by Drs. Klein, Clarke, and Creswell, to 

 have a peculiar effect on these germs in the way of intensifying 

 their virulence. This hybrid, which I am fortunate enough to 



