25



part of the judge. This is supposed to have shamed the lady so

much that I was told she tore the price off the label. Or did the

bird, with a more modest idea of its own value, itself gnaw it off!

Mr. Housdeu had a good female Ganga and a capital pair of

Leadbeater’s Cockatoos, and Mrs. Cooper had a fair male

Leadbeater.


Cast but hardly least come the three Fijian Parrakeets, to

which I have already indirectly alluded. On previous occasions

we have had examples of two, but not I think of three, different

species of these large but, in captivity, not very interesting birds.

Exhibitions are of great value to aviculturists, as by them they

are enabled to see and compare species which otherwise would

be beyond their reach ; and I must be forgiven if I let out at

those who by thoughtlessness bring the Shows into disrepute.

I made out Mr. Sutton’s second-prize bird to be a Tabuan

Parrakeet, Pyrrhulopsis tabnensis, his other bird a Masked

Parrakeet, P. personata, and Mr. Cole’s to be, as catalogued, a

Shining Parrakeet, P. splendens.


Most of the foreigners other than Parrots were most pro¬

perly placed in cages with wooden backs, which caused some

of them to be so much in the shade that I could hardly make

them out, much less observe their points. For instance, Mr.

Hawkins’ pair of Rufous-tailed Finches, which took the first prize

in the open class for Waxbills,Whydahs, etc., looked to me much

like two males. To this class Mr. Hawkins sent also a Red-faced,

an Aurora, and a pair of Pectoral Finches. Mr. Glasscoe had a

pair of what seemed to be Golden-fronted Weavers, and a

Yellow-backed Whydah ; Mrs. Cooper a Red-headed Weaver

and a pair of Magpie Mannikins ; and. Mr. Townsend a pair

of Zebra Waxbills. What seemed to be a pair of ordinary

Combasous were catalogued as “ Paradise Whydah (E. African

variety).”


My first sight of the next class was enough to break the

heart of a wheelbarrow, much more so mine, for I am very fond

of the Parrot Finches. A solitary specimen seemed to be deeply

lamenting a lost one, and a hybrid (Vol. VI., p. 136) next to it

was likewise alone, although the catalogue speaks of “ finches,”

and the only Report on the Show I have seen refers to both as

“pairs”; the pair of Tricoloured had vanished, taking their

cage with them ; while a 2nd prize Parrot Finch in the Eimit

Class was represented by a tenantless cage. It is impossible to

help liking these little fellows, but they are not over robust. All

these birds belonged to Mr. Hawkins (who took the whole of the



