Revieiv.



277



When last at the Natural History Museum I asked Dr.

Sharpe what conclusion Mr. Pycraft had come to from a study of

the anatomy of the Spotted-wing, and he answered :—“Well, he

agrees with you that it is a Bulbul ; but it is a strange thing and

I can’t quite understand it; it is certainly said to fly like a

Starling, and the Glossy Starlings lay spotted eggs.”


A. G. Butler.



REVIEW.


PARRAKEETS : Part IV.*


Parrot lovers will welcome Part IV. of Mr. Setli-Smith’s

book on Parrakeets, more especially as it treats of the more

commonly kept species.


This part embraces a good many kinds. The Crimson¬

wing, the King Parrakeet, the Masked and the Shining, the

Dove-bird, the Hanging Parrakeet, and some of the Platycerci ,

are amongst those treated of, so there is 110 want of variety.

And we are grateful for the plates of such unfamiliar birds as

Sclater’s Hanging Parrakeet and Brown’s Parrakeet. Indeed, if

we have a fault to find, it is that Mr. Goodchild’s admirable

painting should be wasted upon such well-known birds as

Pennant’s Parrakeet and the Yellow-rumped Parrakeet, instead

of giving us plates of Masters’s, or of Psittinus incertus. It is

true that an aviculturist is not likely to have such a piece of luck

as to acquire one of these, but then we might have said the same

of the Polyielis alexatidrcz, or of the Golden-shoulder some years

back. And it is of great importance to be able to turn to a

figure of an unknown bird. No description equals a plate.


In the accounts of the Crimson-wings and the King, Mr.

Seth-Smith does not note what I have found the habit of these

birds, their always nesting on the ground—nor does he comment

on the peculiar musky smell of the Masked Parrakeet, which

makes a bird otherwise so desirable as a pet, unsuitable for

dwelling rooms.



* Parrakeets; A practical handbook to those species kept in captivity.

By V. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. London: K. H. Porter.



