124 S/raT Life and Sport on Achill Island. ' 



tightly stretched string. This sound is apparently mistaken 

 by the Quail for the call of one of their species. 



Those curious little birds, which are half Partridge 

 and half Quail, called Bush-quails are caught as follows : 

 A captive bird is taken into the jungle in the evening in a 

 cage 'covered with fine hair nooses. When a locality contain- 

 ing Bush-quail is reached the cage with the call bird in it 

 is set down, an'd the bird catcher blows on the bird inside 

 the cage. All birds dislike wind and Bush-quails and Grey 

 Partridges become furious when blown upon and set up 

 angry cries of defiance. These soon attract the wild birds, 

 which, like the proverbial Irishman, are" always ready for a 

 fight. They get caught in the nooses. It is said that it would 

 be possible to catch every Bush-quail in a jungle by this 

 device I 



'i'here are many different ways of snaring Partridges. 

 One is the method just described. 



{To be continued). 



The History of the Budgerigar 



By E. Hopkixsox, D.S.O., M.A., Etc. 



{Continued from page 69). 



From this time onwards the Budgerigar takes a prominent 

 place in books pn cage-birds. The article in Cassell's Canaries 

 andi Cage-birds by August Wiener, the author of the Foreign 

 Bird section of this work, is so full of facts bearing on our 

 subject, that 1 quote in extenso the more historical portion 



(P- 433)- 



" Between 1840 arid 1850 a pair of these little birds were worth 

 "£20 or £25. About the years 1850 to 1855, a pair would cost about £5. 

 "Between 1855 and 1858 larger numbers of Undulated Parrakeets reached 

 ■■ Europe, and their price sank to a couple of sovejeigns. Within the 

 "last five years (this was written in 1879.— E.H.) the importation of 

 " thio one species of Parrakeet has increased enormously. About three 

 " years ago they could be had in London for about seven shillings per 

 "pair, but drought in Australia, and a dearth of canary-seed combined 

 " stopped the supplies for a season, and their price rose again to twenty- 

 " or even thirty-five shillings per pair. Previous importations, however, 



