So 77 ie Notes 071 the Crystal Palace Bird Show. 179


unsuitable. I have found that these beautiful Lorikeets do

very well indeed on a diet of sweetened milk sop, and ripe fruit

such as sweet-water grapes, of which they are exceedingly fond.

A nice Black - tailed Parrakeet ( Polytclis 77 iela 7 iura) was also

shown here, as well as a good many common kinds such as

Kings, Crimson - wings, Pennants, Rosellas, and the three

commoner species of Palceo 7 ' 7 iis.


There was little of special interest amongst the larger

Parrots. A pair of Swainson’s Lorikeets were exhibited in this

class, and were 7 iot disqualified, both judge and exhibitor over¬

looking the fact that they should have been in the previous

class.


The class for commoner foreign finches contained one

curiously-marked White-headed Mannikin, in which the throat

was entirely black ; it might well have been taken for a hybrid

between Munia viaja and M. atricapilla , and as these two

closely-allied forms appear to overlap one another’s boundaries

the possibility of hybridisation is by no means remote. I believe

however it belonged to the rare form inhabiting Java, and

known as M. fe 7-7 7 ighiosa.


The class for the rarer Waxbills, Grassfinches and

Mannikins contained a bird that was a puzzle to a great many

aviculturists, and which was probably the first of its species

ever shown in this country. I took it to be a specimen of

Lag 07 iosticta 7 iiveig 7 cttata from East Africa.* This was shown by

Mr. L. W. Hawkins, and was rightly awarded the first prize.

Other notable birds in this class were, a pair of Blue Waxbills

(.Estrilda a?igole 7 isis), pairs of Ringed Finches ( Stictoptcra amm-

losa ), Double - banded Finches (S. biche 7 iovii), Rufous - tailed

Finches (. Bathilda ruficauda ), Pin-tailed Nonpareils (. Erythrura

prashia). Red - faced and Aurora - finches (. Pytelia afra and P.

ph<£ 7 iicoptera ) ; Gouldian, Long-tailed, and Masked Grassfinches.


The next class was devoted to “ Grosbeaks, True Finches,

and Buntings,” but contained little that was especially note¬

worthy. Two pairs of Olive Finches ( Pho 7 iipara lepida ), a hen



* Since the above was in type Mr. H. Goodchild has compared a water-colour

drawing he made of this bird with the skins in the British Museum, and finds that

my supposition is correct.—D. S.-S.



