167 



Sir, — I have no need to refer to any description of 

 Uroloncha acuticauda and U. striata, for I am intimately 

 acquainted with both species, and liave kept both at times 

 during tlie last ten years. I have an example of U. acuticauda 

 now in my aviarj', which has been in my possession some three 

 or four years, and I have a skin of U. striata in my cabinet 

 collection. I can only repeat that, in my opinion, while U. 

 striata may be broadly termed " dark brown," U. acuticauda 

 cannot be so described with any approach to accuracy'. The 

 dark feathers in so-called "chocolate" Bengalese are almost 

 exactly the colour of the back of (J. striata, and do not at all 

 resemble the more rufous colouring of (J. acuticauda. 



I should like it to be understood that I do not commit 

 myself to any theory of the ancestry of the Bengalese. 



In one sense, of course, all small seed-eating birds require 

 "much the same treatment," and if mixed together in an 

 aviary they cannot have different treatment. But, as it 

 happens. Goldfinches and Canaries differ in their requirements 

 about as much as it is possible for any two members of the 

 Finch family to differ. Horatio R. F11.LMER. 



GOULDIAN FINCHES. 



Sir, — If I may venture to offer a suggestion to the Rev. 

 Mr. Farrar, I would point out that the Gouldian Finch, although 

 a native of the sub-tropical parts of Australia, is eminently a 

 shade loving bird, and that the direct rays of the sun are 

 extremely prejudicial to it, even when the said rays are miti- 

 gated by the fogs and mists of our beloved Island; and that, 

 perhaps, it is to Mr. Farrar's having lodged his Gouldians in 

 " a little inferno" his want of success with them is due. A 

 friend of mine, who has been very fortunate with these birds, 

 kept them in an ordinary dining-room where there was no 

 excessive light, but rather, I thought, a decided want of it. 

 However, they did remarkably well there and even bred, pro- 

 dncingthree fine3'Oungones from acomparatively enormousnest 

 of bass and fibre which they built in a small dead fir-tree placed 

 in one corner of their cage, which was about six feet long by 

 four feet wide and high. As the opening into the nest was 

 placed at the side of the cage next the wall, the interior of the 

 erection must have been in complete darkness, yet the young 

 birds hatched in it were perfect in every respect. When they 

 first showed themselves outside their birth-place, the little 

 Gouldian finches were of a uniform greenish grey colour, and 

 had black bills and black legs and feet. Other friends of mine 



