178 Rc})iiniscciiCi'S. 



slighter and effeminate-looking head, and that she has rather 

 less scarlet on the breast. Certainly that is so with some pairs 

 which I have closely examined. 



-0~f4^ 



Reminiscences. 



By Capt. L. Lovell-Keays, R.A.M.C, F.Z.S. 



(Continued from page 133). 



Last month was occupied with the Prologue. This 

 month I must plunge in niedias res and unfold my story. 



My first entry into the ranks of aviculturists was due 

 entirely to our Hon. Editor and poor Major Perreau. than 

 whom no keener or more charming aviculturist ever existed. 

 He was one of the bulwarks of aviculture — the fons ci origo of 

 innumerable interesting, rare, and beautiful new species. His 

 place can never be filled. His birds arrived from India in 

 faultless condition, and proved the fact by repeatedly going to 

 nest almost as soon as they were turned out into the lucky 

 possessor's aviaries. To even dream of Niltavas, Minlas, 

 Brown-backed Robins and Zosterops, to say nothing of the 

 fascinating Yuhinas, fills one with delight, but what of 

 actually possessing them ? Can those days, those delights ei'er 

 return ? Not unless mealworms spring up out of the ground. 

 I used to buy /lbs. at a time, and now one cannot buy 7 ounces. 

 Where are all the breeders of these succulent coleoptera ? I 

 mean people who write articles telling you how to breed them. 

 Now is the tiiue to make an honest penny, but he must beware 

 of profiteering in the future. They can be bred, for I have 

 done it — not on a commercial scale it is true, but sufficiently 

 freely to keep me always supplied with young larvae for rearing 

 voung birds. Soft-bills cannot be kept without mealworms or 

 their equivalent, except when lit'c ants' " eggs " are available. 

 But they must be alive. My birds seldom cared for the dried 

 article ; true, they gulped them down with the rest of the insectile 



