35



skins of humming birds which never come from that Island at

all, nor from any other West Indian island either. Of the French

possessions, Tunis makes the best show, although they are

arranged in such a dark corner of the Official Pavilion that it is

difficult to see the majority of the birds properly.


In the Rue des Nations, Portugal has a good show of

mounted birds, but principally shore birds, and Bosnia and

Herzegovina also have a few interesting specimens. In this

part of the grounds, however, Mexico stands far and away above

all other countries. It is much to be regretted that this hand¬

some building is so badly lighted, and many of the birds in such

a dark alcove that it is all but impossible to distinguish birds

from mammals. Those in the centre of the building can be

seen to much better advantage, and for me possess the greatest

interest, as most of the birds belong to families so well represented

in Ecuador ; in fact many of the species vary only slightly from

the Ecuadorian ones. Among them I noticed that the Mexican

form of Yellow-bellied Grosbeak ( c ) is very much larger than the

Ecuadorian one, and not so brilliant, otherwise I could see no

difference. I omitted to mention when writing of this bird that

it is subspecifically separated under the name of Pheucticus

chrysopeplus chrysogaster. Among the many handsome birds

exhibited is a lovely pair of Xanthura luctuosa and also some

fine Tanagers. There is also a wonderful and very large collec¬

tion of Lepidoptera coleoptera (all beautifully set), and land shells.


In the Palace of Forests and Chase are numerous exhibits

whichcannotfail to interest aviculturists, although they do not con¬

cern them particularly. There the leading Paris taxidermists are

well represented, and I noticed some rare Colombian birds among

the exhibits of one well-known firm. A sight in this building

which no one interested in birds could fail to think sad is in the

Japanese section, which is taken up almost entirely by boxes of

birds’ skins of every known species from that country, exhibited

with a view to obtaining orders for their wholesale exportation ;

which is quite a different thing to legitimate and limited collect¬

ing for scientific purposes. I understand that great numbers were

sent to England in the early Spring of this year, to some auction

rooms, where they were sold by the thousand for a mere song.

Some of the daily papers had a deal to say about it at the time,

and it was hoped that the absurdly low prices they fetched

would discourage the trade as far as England was concerned.

Perhaps here in Paris they may find a larger demand for them,



\c) Vol. VI., page 224 .



