All rights reserved.'] [NOVEMBER, 1907 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE JOURNAL OF 



THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



Some parraJ^ects 3 have licpt. 



By T. N. W1T.SON. M.A. 



When I travel, " Ship me somewhere East of 

 Suez " ; not for any of the reasons given by Kipling's 

 Tommy Atkins, but because " East is East, and West 

 is West," and, to my Western mind, the East is more 

 interesting than the Weston account of its utter differ- 

 ence to my usual surroundings. 



For the same reason Parrakeets have always been 

 especially interesting to me; they are so utterly 

 different to our native birds. Budgerigars, Turquoi- 

 sines, Blue-winged, Grey-headed and Red-faced Love- 

 birds, Red and Mealy Rosellas, Pennants, Cockatiels, 

 Redrumps, Many-Colours, Yellow Collars, Blue Bonnets 

 and Browns are amongst those which have inhabited 

 my aviaries from time to timc; I look back with 

 regret on the days when I gave 25/- a pair for Budgeri- 

 gars. If that price were still obtainable. Budgerigars 

 would pay far better than Poultry, which indeed I 

 think they can be made to do, even now although 

 selling at a fifth of the price formerly obtainable. At 

 that time Turquoisines were not much more expensive 

 than Budgerigars. I have not seen one for more than 

 fifteen years and a dealer told me recently that if any 

 were imported he could get ;^2o a pair. What has 

 happened to them? Are they following in the wake 



