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these birds to nest on the ground ? I propose leaving them out

all the winter. Will it be safe ?


The Rosy Pastors are two cocks, and most charming birds ;

very tame and most quaint in the way they run about and

chatter at each other. They remain out all the winter.


I want very much to breed some Mocking Birds. I had

one for over nine 3^ears, and his brother for nearly seven years.

They were brought me from Virginia out of the nest. They

were wonderful singers, going on in summer all night and

day, and ultimately died of old age.


I was in Madeira last spring, and had the great pleasure of

visiting Mrs. Reid’s aviaries. Her articles in our Magazine are

so interesting, that it was nice to see her birds.


Her Grey Parrots breeding in a small cask in the open

were the picture of health, and her endless other Parrots,

Finches and Waxbills were nesting and living as happily as if in

their wild state. Of course the climate is a great help to

success, and I came away with a feeling of despair at having to

cope with our dull, damp climate. The Cordon Bleus in

Madeira were a never failing source of envy to me. One saw

cages of twenty or thirty of them at a time, in the perfection of

plumage and brisk health ; but they cost a great deal, 8/- a pair,

which seemed too much. I wonder if any of our members can

help to name a bird which I saw for sale in Madeira. It was the

size of a Java Sparrow, with much the same shaped beak, but

thicker, and dull slate colour. The plumage of the bird

was glossy jet black (like a Combasou), but on the point

of each shoulder was a round spot of white, the size of a sixpence.

It had a very melodious whistle, loud for its size, and lived on

canary and millet. The man who had it said it came from

Demarara, and he had seen only one other. This bird was very

old, or I would have bought him. I fear I have digressed far

from my original subject, but one thinks of so many points of

interest when writing of birds, that I hope I may be excused.

One other little point may interest your readers. I brought home a

Madeira Canary, which lives in a cage in the same room as an

Indian Plum-headed Parrakeet. The Canary’s song is an absolute

imitation of the Parrakeet’s whistles and cries, in miniature, and

I have distinctly heard it whistle “ prettjr dear,” and once “ pretty

Polly,” mixed up with its song. It sounds most extraordinary,

especially when the two birds go on together.



