522 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. [Ibis, 



appears to be keeping them in small cages, for which they 

 are unsuited, and trying to teach them to talk, for which 

 they have little aptitude. Many of the very last living 

 examples of the Turquoisine, Splendid Grass-Parrakeet, and 

 Beautiful Parrakeet appear, from enquiries I have made, to 

 have ended their days as cage-birds, whereas, if their owners 

 had had the sense to give them proper aviary accommodation, 

 they might have perpetuated the species indefinitely and 

 made a handsome profit for their own pockets. 



Given a favourable climate, Parrakeets are among the 

 easiest of birds to breed in confinement if adult pairs are 

 kept separate and are provided with plenty of green food 

 as well as seed. Grass-Parrakeets need to have tlie outer 

 flight of their aviary lined with string-netting, as they are 

 very prone to kill themselves by flying against wire, but in 

 all other respects they are as easy to manage as their 

 common relatives. 



Your obedient servant, 



Vietoiia Barracks, TavisTOCK. 



Portsmouth. 

 1 May, 1918. 



Protection of Birds. 



. Sir, — The serious diminution in the numbers of our 

 resident insect-eating birds, whicli resulted from the severe 

 winter of 1916-17, and also from the widespread destruction 

 of birds and eggs in the summer of 1917, is a cause for 

 grave anxiety at the present time. 



Plagues of insect-life of various kinds were reported in 

 the summer and autumn from many districts, and but for 

 the services of summer migrants would have proved alarm- 

 ingly destructive to corn, grass, and green crops and to 

 fruit. This year a similar and greater danger faces us. 

 Under the most favourable conditions it must be some 

 years before many of our small birds regain their normal 

 status. The continual ploughing up of old grassland 

 multiplies insect-pests; the increased crops afford them 



