Correspondence , Notes, etc.



37 1



account of the tendency of the parents to throw their young out of the

nest. When I bred them the young were invisible from the front of my

breeding-cage.


Doubtless the object of the marking is the same in every case—to

enable the parents to see better where to place their own beaks when feed¬

ing the young. A. G. BuTEER.



LONGEVITY OF A COCKATOO.


The following interesting note appears in the Field of July 4th last:

“ I have lately seen a White Cockatoo which has been in the possession of

its present owner for more than seventy j-ears. It was purchased from a

sailor in Bow about 1830, and all that could be learned about it at that time

was that the sailor had taken it with him as a companion on three voyages

to the antipodes and back again. The bird, which is able to speak very

distinctly, is in good health, although it lost a portion of its beak and one

toe in a fight with a dog about twenty years ago. It may be added that the

bird has lived all of the seventy years it has been with its present master in

the East End of London until three or four years ago. It is rarely confined

and is not pinioned. — E. J. Cavanagh.”



GERMAN BIRD-DEALERS AND FANCIERS.


SIR,—Having been obliged to go to Germany lately for a course of

baths, I took the opportunity of visiting a few of the bird-dealers in the

vicinity of the Black Forest.


Air. Kestermann (a member) most kindly advised me to go and see

Herr Karl Kullmann if I should happen to go to Frankfort-on-Main.


Herr Kullmann is an enthusiastic bird-lover, and a great authority on

birds. He keeps them for pleasure, and very courteously showed me

his pets. He goes in almost entirely for European insectivorous song-birds,

such as Nightingales, Blackcaps, Blue-throated Warblers, Robins, Orphean

Warblers, Garden Warblers, etc.


A beautiful Blue-throated Warbler (the white-spotted one) he has

had eight yea:s; and I believe I am correct in saying that he has had a

Nightingale for close on 16 years. This bird, he told me, comes on his

hand, and there sings.


Herr Kullmann keeps all his birds in cages open to the front only,

and I noticed that he gives them no sand, but a slip of paper, fitting to the

drawer, fresh ever} - day.


Indeed since I have seen his birds and those of a dealer at Bad-

Homburg who also makes use of no sand, I have begun to wonder wdiether

it is needful, although we in England have always had the idea that it is

necessary to the health of the birds. There is one great disadvantage of

sand, to my mind, in the cages of insectivorous birds, and that is if



