Vol. II. 

 1903 



J From Magazines, &^c. I 8 I 



and ice on birds' drinking water, storms of hail and sleet, and a 

 north-west wind. On 19th June, a fine, bright morning, after 

 some wet, cold weather, the first young Barnard appeared. He 

 was seen clinging to the top of the wire-netting in the aviary, 

 perfectly motionless. As far as I could see from a distance he 

 was a dull edition of the old birds. . . . The next day 

 another appeared, exactly like the first, perhaps a shade brighter 

 in colouring, and he took up his position next to the first, at the 

 top of the aviary, clinging with his beak, and quite motionless." 



The Smutty Parrakeet. — In some notes accompanying a 

 fine coloured plate of this Parrakeet {Platycercus brozuni, 

 Temm.), in the Avicidhiral Magazine for August, Mr. D. 

 Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., says there are perhaps half a dozen pairs of 

 these birds in Great Britain. The first he saw were exhibited 

 in November, 1899, and soon after two pairs were deposited at 

 the London Zoo. " I have not found this species delicate, 

 although it inhabits a hot region." Mr. Seth-Smith has often seen 

 his pair (from which living specimens Mr. Goodchild prepared 

 the drawing for the plate) examining nest boxes, so there seems 

 a probability of their breeding in captivity, or, at all events, that 

 eggs will be laid. 



Our Finches in Britain. — Concerning the Australian 

 Chestnut-eared Finch {Tceniopygia castanotis), which is amongst 

 those commonly kept in Europe, in a letter from Mr. D. 

 Seth-Smith, F.Z.S. {Avic. Mag., vol. viii., p. 234), the following 

 interesting item is given: — " A brood of seven young Zebra 

 Finches recently left the nest in my aviary, some coming out 

 several days before the others. I was much interested, on 15th 

 June, to see some of the elder young ones, still with black bills, 

 and only very recently able to feed themselves, feeding their 

 younger brothers and sisters as they clamoured for food, exactly 

 as the parents fed them. I watched them doing so several 

 times." On p. 239 of the same magazine, a brief note from Mrs. 

 Howard Williams records the rearing of a brood of Ringed 

 Finches {Sticfoptcra animlosd), a postscript notifying the arrival 

 of a second brood. A subsequent article (p. 264) on the subject 

 says that two pairs were purchased in January, and some time 

 afterwards one was- observed to be nesting. The first young left 

 the nest on 29th May. " There were three of them, one much 

 larger than the others. In appearance they were very much 

 like their parents, but much lighter, especially the wings and 

 tail, and the dark shading at the top of the beak was hardly 

 noticeable. In one important point, however, they were entirely 

 different. Seen full face they were absolutely ringless, and their 

 breasts were pure white. In profile they showed the beginning 



