Field Meetings. 223 



varieties of water lilies, some pure white, others of red tint, all 

 of large size and great beauty. 



The aviaries, which are located within the garden policies, 

 are a unique feature of a country mansion in this district. Mr 

 Brook has adopted as a special pursuit the study of the habits 

 and life-history of tropical birds, and has brought together a 

 wonderful collection, chiefly from New Guinea. They are 

 remarkable for richness of plumage and brilliancy of colours. 

 Most assertive of all, both on account of its abnormally long 

 beak, shining as with bright enamel, as well as of its insistent 

 raucous note, was the Toucan. There are also several varieties 

 of Birds of Paradise and of the I-ory, or brush-tongued parrot, 

 and examples of the Rifle Bird and other species rare and curious. 

 Each species is provided with a commodious liouse of its own 

 and a good-sized netted enclosure, containing a growing tree 

 trunk with branches lopped off, to afford them opportunities of 

 exercise. They are wonderfully domesticated, and quite at 

 home with their owner. A chick of the Black Lory has been 

 hatched in these aviaries, the first of its kind to be brought out 

 in confinement. One of the species of Lorykeet brought to 

 Hoddom Castle has been pronounced by the authorities of the 

 British Museum to be new to science, and they have done the 

 discoverer the honour of naming it after him — Trichoglossus 

 Brooki. It is a beautiful bird, with green back, orange and 

 black breast and abdomen. Mr Brook's attention has been 

 turned to the finding of the best substitute for the natural food 

 of these birds. In their native country they feed on honey and 

 pollen, the brush with which the tongue is fitted being specially 

 designed for enabling them to extract the nectar. In this 

 country they are found to thrive on boiled milk and barley water 

 mixed with crushed fruit and sugar. Another point to which 

 his observation is directed is to determine when the Birds of 

 Paradise attain their full plumage. This is believed to be at 

 the third moult, but continued observation is necessary authorita- 

 tively to settle the question. Mr Brook some time ago commis- 

 sioned Mr Walter Goodfellow, whose knowledge of New Guinea 

 and its feathered inhabitants is unrivalled, to make a collecting 

 expedition on his behalf. That gentleman has undertaken an 

 excursion to the high grounds of the countr\^, attaining to an alti- 



