12 b The History of the Budircri^ar. 



" treble the amount paid for them. NoiwithstandiiiK the immense importa- 

 " tion, few imported Budgerigars can be bought in the Autumn, and 

 " thf market is tlien supplied with young cagc-brcd birds."* 



For a good many years the supply was kept up by 

 the large consignments of Australian birds, which Wiener 

 describes, home-breeding playing a comparatively small part and 

 not producing nearly such fine specimens as those direct from 

 their native land. Many of my readers will no doubt remem- 

 ber the wording of the advertisements of about that time, 



" Real Australian Blue-legged birds, not common Continental cage- 

 bred stuff." 



At firstj.too, the birds seem to have been anything but 

 free breeders, chiefly it seems because, accustomed as they 

 were to the cycle of the Antipodean seasons, they usually 

 commenced to incubate in our winter, with frequent egg-bind- 

 and other ills, as well as weakling young, as the consequence. 



Now all this is reversed. The supply is almost entirely 

 Icept up by home-bred birds, of which thousands must be 

 reared in England alone every year, the import trade having 

 gradually [diminished, until nowadays a consignment of Budgeri- 

 gars from Australia is distinctly a rare occurrence. When one 

 remembers that the number bred on the continent vastly ex- 



* For some years during the nineties I Jkept a record of the prices 

 at which various foreign birds were advertised, and these may be of in- 

 terest in connection with those of 15 to 20 years earlier which Wiener gives 

 Between 1894 and 1896 I find I have 6s. 6d. a pair as the lowest, and 

 1 6s. the highest price for real imported birds, with 8s. as the average. After 

 1896 1 'have no entries of imported birds, all the prices I have noted re- 

 feiring to aviary-bred stock. At this time two classes of this were appar- 

 ently recognized among dealers, (1) the best, commonly advertised as "Ant- 

 werp birds," or "Antwerp-bred," the prices of which varied during the per- 

 iod from 1894 to 1898, from los. to 6s. a pair, and (2), what were usually 

 advertised as "French," which always meant measly, badly feathered young- 

 sters, if not actually birds in the last stages of " French moult." Their prices, 

 varied from about six to three shillings a pair, and were certainly dear even 

 at the last. I see that in this list I have yellows quoted at 40s. and 50s. 

 during 1895, and 1897, at 30s. in 1898, at 30s., 25s., and 18s. 6d. in 1S99 

 at 20S. 6d. in 1900, when my record ceases. (Note the odd sixpences; they 

 fix the advertiser pretty well). 



The present day price for good aviary-bred specimens may be considered 

 to vary from los. to 6s. a pair, that is for buyers ; for sellers a shilling to 

 •eiguieenpencc a head, dealers allowing themselves ample margin. 



