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Rare Birds at the L.C.B.A. Show.



a poor specimen of the Queen Alexandra’s Parrakeet, and a good

pair of Brown’s Parrakeets.


In the rarer Waxbill class, a beautiful pair of Red-faced or

Melba Finches were conspicuous.


Amongst the Grassfinches and Weavers, Mr. Maxwell’s

Red-rumped Weaver ( Dinemellia ditiemelli ) was quite the most

interesting and rare exhibit ; the same gentleman’s Painted

Finches, and Miss M. Bousfield’s Tri-coloured Parrot-finches

being also noteworthy.


Mrs. Leslie Miller’s Rainbow Bunting ( Cyanospiza leclan-

cheti ) was quite the finest thing in the class for “Grosbeaks, true

Finches and Buntings,” it is a wonderfully beautiful bird.


The Tanagers made a fine class that must have been

difficult to judge ; very rare and beautiful specimens had to be

content with mere commendation cards. The rarest bird in the

class was certainly Mr. Maxwell’s “ Black-throated Chatterer.”

Mrs. Leslie Miller showed a remarkably good pair of Festive

Tanagers; four exhibitors showed specimens of the Rufous-

throated Tanager ; Mr. A Sutcliffe sent two very rare birds in his

Yellow - bellied, and his Desmaresti’s, or Chestnut - headed

Tanager, while Mr. Maxwell’s splendid trio, a Black-backed, a

Blue and Black, and a Black-throated, made up a grand lot of

this gaily-dressed family.


Amongst the Sugar-birds and their allies, Mr. Maxwell

certainly had the rarest bird, in his Purple Sunbird. It was out

of colour, and without careful comparison it would not be easy

to identify the species, but a Sunbird of any species is a unique

cage-bird. There were no less than four “ Banana Quits”

(Certhiola ), three apparently belonging to the Jamaica form (C

flaveola) and one being apparently C. luteola. They are pretty

and very rare as cage-birds. Two of them belonged to Mr.

Sutcliffe, one to Mr. Maxwell, and one to Mr. Townsend. Mr.

Maxwell had also a fine pair of Black-headed (( C.hlo?ophanes

spiza), a Yellow-winged, and a splendid Purple Sugar-bird. A

Yellow-winged Sugar-bird belonging to Mr. Townsend was

absolutely perfect, and perhaps the most brilliant gem in the

Show, while this exhibitor’s rare Jerdon’s Green Bulbul was well

worth notice.



