Correspondence, Notes, etc.



405



MYNAH AND COCKATOO.



Sir, —I should be much obliged if you could give me some advice

about a Greater Hill Mynah (Indian). He eats well and his plumage is

fairly good, but one toe of each foot is very much inflamed and very tender.

I have had the bird three years, during which time his feet have never

been right though I have never known them quite as bad as they are now.

I have bathed them in hot milk and put on tincture of myrrh without

success. Could you tell me of any lotion I might apply? The bird is fed

on boiled rice, potato, currants and carrots, and I am most careful to see

that the perch is kept dry and clean.



I should also like to know the name of any good Parrot food for a

small Australian Yellow-crested Cockatoo.



E. Kirkwood.



The following reply has been sent to Mrs. Kirkwood.


I think it quite possible that the inflamed condition of the Mynah’s

feet is due to incorrect feeding.


I have, at various times, kept the Greater Hill Mynah, the Common

Mynah, the Malabar, and the Crested Mynah, the last being still in good

health. I have come to the conclusion that these birds should be fed upon

‘Century Food ’ or its equivalent; grapes, oranges, or pears; insects, but

especially cockroaches or grasshoppers; and a very little raw meat once a

week : on this food they do splendidly.


I should nevertheless recommend you to bathe the bird’s feet in fairly

hot water and afterwards in a weak solution of chloride of zinc : this

should be done at least twice a day until the bird recovers.


As regards your question about a good general “Parrot Food”; the

thing is a hopeless impossibility, and nobody who knew anything about

parrots and had their interests at heart would have the effrontery to put

such a thing on the market.


Cockatoos do well on a mixture of maize, oats, wheat, dari, hemp,

nuts, fruit, raw carrot, plain dry biscuit; pure water only to drink.


A. G. BuTDER.



AN INTERESTING HYBRID.


Sir, —In a letter received from La Coutessa Baldelli dated August

17th is the following account of a nest of hybrids produced between the

recently imported Waxbill Estrilda rhodopyga and Estrilda cinerea, which

will certainly be interesting to all breeders of foreign finches:—


“ The very day I posted my last to you, as we went into the birdroom

for the ‘ good night ’ visit, that is before dusk, we saw a tiny mite standing



