HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 267 



good many. My amazement may be imagined 

 when I inform you that in June 1893 I heard 

 from my agent aforesaid that he had ninety-five 

 of these birds awaiting my orders ! I told him 

 that I did not want more than twenty or thirty 

 at the outside, but he nevertheless shipped sixty 

 of them from Gibraltar, all of which were 

 landed alive and in good condition in London, 

 and twelve of them forwarded to Lilford. 1 These 

 birds have a very peculiar habit of taking the 

 sun by elevating one wing to its full extent 

 towards the sky and drooping the other to the 

 ground in an attitude that I have never seen in 

 any other bird. 



' In the central division of the aviary are a 

 small flock of Alpine Choughs, very active and 

 noisy birds, with black plumage, yellow beaks, 

 and red legs. Many of this species have nested 

 and laid eggs in their compartment, but in the 

 few instances in which the eggs have been 

 hatched out, the parent birds have abandoned 

 their young. 



* I have had many of that beautiful species 



1 Many of these were given by my brother to the Zoological 

 Gardens in Regent's Park, where they have continually nested and 

 reared young ones. 



