298



Mr. D. Seth-Smith,



ful, nor sings, but also is unfriendly after the Sparrow fashion,

and moreover destroys other birds’ nests, it hardly compensates

one to purchase it as a cage-bird ; if given its liberty it is always

necessary to keep it in an aviary with larger and more powerful

inhabitants. The pair rushes about flirting the tail in the Bird-

room, and proves itself at all times lively and restless, also very

daring. On several occasions have they started to breed and

thrown together a very coarse nest in almost any hollow or in a

large Weaver’s nest, the cup formed of blades of grass, cotton¬

wool and feathers. Surprising to relate, it has never been

extended to egg-laying : otherwise it might have been as easy to

breed as Swainson’s Sparrow ,;s . As however I just then had

many Ornamental finches in the Birdroom, I took out the spite¬

ful Throat-sparrows very soon, and am of opinion that a study of

the nidification was not delayed thereby. To my knowledge

nobody else has bred the bird, and there is nothing to be found

in literature respecting the nidification when at liberty.”


It would seem therefore that I am the first bird-student

who has seen the eggs of this little Sparrow.


In the British Museum there is an example of P. dentata

showing the two white wing-bands : this I take to be the im¬

mature form of the species. It seems probable that the white

tips to the lesser and median coverts point to an ancestral

character, still retained in the first plumage of this species.



A FINE COLLECTION OF PARRAKEETS.



Through the courtesy of our member Mr. W. B'asey, I

recently had the pleasure of inspecting his very fine collection

of Parrakeets at Suaresbrook ; and, as I could not persuade him

to write an account of his birds for our Magazine, he has

allowed me to tell our members of what I saw.



* It is quite possible that all the eggs were dropped on the sand,

smashed, and overlooked from the fact that Dr. Russ fully expected them

to be white.



