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time 50 Greys—35 deaths; and on the voyage jnst completed 36

Greys—35 deaths ; the 36th bird and only survivor was one

purchased privately.


Australian birds as a rule take more readily to confine¬

ment than Britishers, although there are a few which never seem

to take to it. The Many-coloured, Barnard’s, Blue Bonnet,

Mealy Rosella and Crimson-wing Parrakeets are always hard to

cage off. Among the small fry the Crimson Finch stands out

pre-eminent, as a difficult subject, followed closely by the Sydney

Waxbill and Bicheno’s Finch ; the latter at certain seasons only,

however ; at other times it lives splendidly, as was the case with

a lot I brought home last voyage; I had 264 on hand when

leaving Queensland, and lost 14 only. I fed them on Hungarian

millet and spray millet; they would never look at white millet or

canary seed. Hungarian millet I buy in Australia, and am

forwarding a sample to our Editor who may be able to ascertain

its proper name.


I am repeatedly asked to bring home rare Parrakeets, such

as Turquoisiues, Grass, Elegants, Paradise, etc., and, prior to

taking our departure each voyage, I write to all dealers of any

note to secure me such, but invariably with the same result ;

nearly all the rare birds come from far inland and from most

inaccessible spots ; consequently very few catchers venture so

far, or could even afford to do so. One enterprising party

springs up occasionally who has a good supply of real gems, but

it may be years before another will venture so far ; hence the

reason we see a quantity of rare birds in the market to- day, and

perhaps, years may intervene before they appear again. The

droughts often have a lot to do with the changing of breeding

grounds making migration compulsory.


The most desirable of the soft-bills are to be had in the

winter months, near the coast, but they seem to go inland

during the nesting season ; and it is hard to get them to England.

The great difficulty is the differences of season, and scarcity of

mealworms when the best soft-bills are obtainable. This last

voyage I took out witli me five quarts of mealworms, besides a

plentiful supply of egg-yolk and ants’ cocoons (none of which

can be bought in Australia), and only secured a few Superb

Warblers (Malurus cyaneus ), one Whip Bird {Psophodes crepitans),

one Regent Bird (Sericulus melimis ) and a few common kinds.

Next voyage, leaving here at the beginning of July and return¬

ing in December, I could secure no end of lovely soft-bills, but

one will easily see wherein lies the difficulty ; during these



