Aiotcs of the Season 191 



bel'^i'L; t(' a very lii.^H caste, and say they will not thrive in Di.- 

 hrm e c a low caste man, unless he makes them eat food sue: 

 as pork, which ' Breaks their Caste ' — perhaps my pair needed 

 some such treatment. 



Last week I was given a youni; hlack bird with an aston- 

 ishing big " gape." 1 took him for a nightjar at th-st, but now 

 believe him to be a young Kowal, or Ulack Cuckoo, lie appear.=; 

 willing to live on any diet, and 1 hope to rear him to maturity; 

 he is a most confiding and absurd bird; nearly as big as a young- 

 jackdaw. I will try to sketch or photo him later. He is shiny 

 black with buff flecks at intervals on tip of wing feathers his 

 peculiarities being thick grey-black feet, short legs, and huge 

 ' gape,' and a little turn down end to his bill. 



^-hh^ 



Notes of the Season. 



By the M.arquis of Tavistock. 



The severe winter passed with the loss of only a single 

 bird and that of no value to speak of. But from March onward 

 I have a great rim of ill-luck, the majority of deaths occurring 

 during perfect weather. 



First I lost three acclimatized White-browed Amazons 

 (Clirysotis albifrons) from lung trouble : then a Guiana Parrot- 

 let from ovary disease. I also lost a consignment of Red Shining 

 Uvean Parrakeets. these were all unacclimatised birds, but 

 I never expected to lose the lot in spite of every care. 



Septicaemia also carried off two Yellow-bellied Parrakeets 

 (Platyccvcus floviveiitris) — this mysterious disease makes it 

 almost impossible to keep certain parrakeets in the Isle of 

 Wight — notably Many-colours, Blue Bonnets, and apparently 

 Yellow-bellies. It appears to be non-infectious and generally 

 ends fatally after a few hours' or a few days' of painful 

 illness, marked by convulsions. Heat hastens the patient's end, 

 but the disease can occur in winter as well as in summer, and 

 there seems no prevention or cure. 



My New-Zealand Parrakeets (Cyanurhcniiphus novac- 

 zealandiae ) quarrelled badly, although they were brother and 

 sister, and had never been separated. I therefore parted them 



