Noles on Birds and Aviculture in Portugal.



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North America and Canada, wintering in the South. They also

occur in Cozumel, Cuba and Jamaica.


It is curious that these Grosbeaks were so seldom imported

in old days, when one used to see cages full of Red Cardinals,

Blue Birds (Robins), etc. from the United States; and until three

years ago I never saw a female. My present pair were most

kindly presented to me from the New York Zoological Gardens.



NOTES ON BIRDS AND AVICULTURE IN

PORTUGAL.


By Miss Ivens.


I am sending a photograph of an interesting pair of birds,

for reproduction in our Magazine, if found acceptable. They

occasionally breed in this country, chiefly in the province of

Alemtejo, south of Estremadura, in which Lisbon is situated.

I am told they are rare and difficult to keep in captivity, unless

taken as fledgelings from the nest. If caught when adults they

are apt to refuse food and to pine away. Their Portugese name

is “ Batarda,” and they are also known as the European Ostrich.

Indeed the photograph shows a certain resemblance to that bird.


The colouring of their plumage, except in the purely white

parts, is a mottled combination of cinnamon-brown, black and

white intermixed with slight touches of yellow ; their size about

that of a large Turkey. Before concluding this description of

them (given to me by my bird-dealer, for I have not been for¬

tunate enough to see the birds myself) I must call attention to

the singular liair-like appendages, “whiskers,” so to say, that

adorn their faces.


With regard to other birds found in this country, many are

identical with those of Britain. Most of our familiar songsters,

both graminivorous and insectivorous, are even more common

here than with us. Hoopoes, Jays and Kingfishers likewise.

Among game-birds there is the wild duck, which breeds largely

in the marshes up the Tagus, some 22 miles above Lisbon, in

the district known as the “ Ribatejo.” They are plentiful in the

markets of this city. Snipe and Woodcock, Quails and Partridges



