97



another, though not to any but Gouldians. When it is scraped off with a

penknife the beak seems to have perished, the horn being quite soft. The

birds appear to be in perfect health and plumage. B. Shepherd.



The following reply was sent to Miss Shepherd.


I cannot say what is the cause of the disease, unless, indeed, the cage

in which you keep the birds has brass wires, which might poison the beak

when corroded by verdigris; but after scraping off the cheesy growth, I

should have powdered the beaks with an antiseptic — boracic acid or some¬

thing of that kind. A. G. Butter.



PARTIAL ALBINISM IN BLACKBIRD.


Sir, — It may interest some of our members to hear that there is a

Blackbird here in the village in East Kent, where I am visiting, which has a

white patch on one side of the head. The patch of white feathers extends

over the eye and ear and is very conspicuous. The bird is otherwise pure

black.


This Blackbird has been a regular visitor to the lawn outside the

window every winter for the last five years. He is very tame, and comes

with a crowd of other birds to be fed whenever the weather is cold or

snow}’. We have seen a good deal of him this last week, and I can answer

for his having an excellent appetite. It struck me as curious that the white

patch should not disappear when the moult takes place. Can any of our

scientific members tell me the reason why it does not do so ?


Emii/v E. West.


[With the exception of the House-Sparrow, the Blackbird is, probabl}’,

the most subject to albinism or partial albinism of any British bird ; and, in

most cases at least, a bird so affected never attains the normal hue. — E d.] (h).



THE SEXING OF BIRDS.


Sir,—I was much pleased to see that Dr. Greene had published some

extra facts bearing upon the important point of the sexiug of Parrots, in the

last number of our Magazine.


I find that, in my little book, “ Foreign Bird-Keeping,” I have not

mentioned all the sexual differences in the Red-eared Bulbul. I will, there¬

fore, do so now. The male is longer and stouter than the female, the bill

shorter, not abruptly tapering from beyond the nostrils, the culmen rather

more arched, the lateral depth much greater, the crown wider, feathers of

the crown and crest more glossy and jetty black, the back of a deeper more

smoky brown, tail rather blacker, under surface more purely white, less

sordid, the posterior flank feathers more prominently washed with sandy

brownish, vent and under tail-coverts of a brighter and more pronounced

rose-red ; wings distinctly longer.



(It). Some friends of ours, in Surrey, have had a Blackbird, about one-half white,

living; in their grounds for several years. It is a frequent visitor to the lawns, and is very

conspicuous, the more so as the wing's are white. It is carefully preserved, as, indeed, are

all the birds.—R.P.


Albinism tends to increase with age, instead of decreasing ; I have proved this with

the Blackbird, Chaffinch, and Cordon Bleu. — A.G.B.



