70



Correspondence.



VICTORIA CROWNED PIGEONS.


SIR,—Would some member kindly answer these questions ?

i„ What sum would purchase a pair of Victoria Crowned pigeons?


ii. Where could they be obtained?


iii. Do they need artificial heat in winter time, and what food, etc.?


Yours, etc., GUY FALKNER.


The following reply is given.


It is doubtful if there are any Victoria Crowned pigeons to be obtained

now. Their price would be about £15 15s. a pair, or even £20. They do best in

a large aviary with grass, and need a snug shelter in winter time with peat moss

litter and bracken on the floor, although they can endure a good deal of cold.

Their food is grain of various kinds, but like many of their family, they are

fond of earth and mealworms, as well as different berries. They are ground-

lovers, but perch for roosting.



BREEDING OF THE OCCIPITAL BLUE PIE.


We regret that Dr. AMSLER’S hopes of having been the first to breed the

Occipital Blue Pie (Urocissa occipitalis) have not been realized. This species has

already been bred in Lord Lilford’s aviaries in 1914.



FEEDING A KINGFISHER.


SIR,—I had a Kingfisher sent me about eight weeks ago, he was caught in

High Street, Maidenhead ; it appears he flew about the street and settled on

some iron railings and a cabman put his hand upon him. I suppose the bird was

dazed and frightened, for this species is generally gone like a flash when anyone

approaches it closely. However, he is in excellent health and has become quite

tame. I am trying an experiment and that is to see if he will do on any other

food besides live fish and I have got him to eat mealworms and he really likes

them and does well on them ; he has about ten large minnows or bleak per day

and also a dozen large mealworms, sometimes only half-a-dozen fish per day,

and then I give him two dozen or more mealworms and he is as bright and

smooth in plumage as if out wild. If he continues to do well and keep in

perfect health on a diet of mealworms, then anyone who has a Kingfisher need

not worry about its food when the rivers are in flood and no fish to be had for a

few weeks. P. F. M. GALLOWAY.



A BEAUTIFUL SUGAR-BIRD.


Dacnis berlepschi, described and figured in colour in “Novitates Zoologicse”

Vol. VIII., 1901, is a bird much to be desired. Its size appears to be that of a

British hedge accentor, the male having the whole of the upper parts, including

the upper breast, a gorgeous hyacinthine blue with shaft-stripes of silvery tur¬

quoise blue on back, rump, and front of breast.



