Correspondence.



69



In 1878 there were numbers exhibited at the Paris Exhibition and offered

for sale in small cages.


Monsieur Chiapella was partly successful seven years ago. Some twenty

humming birds were kept by a woman in Paris, perhaps some of those that were

in the 1878 exhibition ; and six years later 17 out of the 20 were still alive.

As far back as June, 1876, Milne Edwards quoted the case of Monsieur Vallet

who kept about 50 humming birds, including five to six species, flying in a large

aviary, but he refused to divulge the secret by which the birds were fed.


One of the members of the family of Rothschild in Paris also received

some, but they only lived a fortnight; that was again in 1878.


In 1885 a French lady received two from Vera Cruz, one of which lived

for a year, and the other a little over that period. As is known, the late Mr.

Cholmondeley, of Condover in Shropshire, had a lot of humming birds about

the year 1878, which were kept in a conservatory, but as their food was not then

understood, they died after a while ; being given insects, the supply of which

could not be sufficiently maintained.


It seems a pity that when Mr. Pam imported some a few years ago, it was

apparently not known at the London Zoological Gardens how these lovely birds

had been successfully kept in captivity in Paris many years before.


H. D. A.



ADULT SPOTTED EAGLE IN HEREFORDSHIRE,


A fine specimen of an adult spotted eagle (Aquila ncevia) was found on

the Brinsop Court estate (near Hereford) by the Editor’s gamekeeper, on the

12th of November. The bird had been wounded, evidently by a neighbour’s

keeper, for it was close to the boundary line in one of the woods which crown

the hilly ground. The eagle lived for two days but in addition to one wing

being shattered near the body, it had evidently received internal injuries. There

have only been about a dozen instances recorded of this bird’s presence in the

British Isles, and it is to be deplored that such a rare visitor should be ruthlessly

and stupidly destroyed. It would probably have preyed chiefly on the numerous

rabbits, and must have been a fine sight on the wing, although not so large as

the golden eagle. The Epirus, Turkey, etc., seems to be one of the chief habita¬

tions of this species. The specimen in question was a rich dark brown in colour,

with whitish spots, not numerous, on the secondaries, etc. and whitish upper

tail-coverts. Probably the bird was blown out of its course in the gale that

occurred at the time it was found ; from France may be.



PROLIFIC GOULD’S FINCHES.


Mr. BERNARD THOMASSET writes word that a pair of his Gould’s

finches have reared seventeen young ones this season, the same hen having

brought off thirteen in 1914. Mr. Thomasset suggests that these numbers are

quite exceptional.



