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Mrs. J. C. Pool sends a. most interesting account of her window aviary,

but we hesitate to print it as we fear it would not be very intelligible -with¬

out the aid of drawings. One feature of her aviary must, we think, be

unique—“ A hole, just large enough for Rosellas and Pennants to wriggle

through, leads from the large drawing-room aviary through a tunnel 14ft.

long into a still larger out-door aviary, 74ft. in length. The birds are

passing through this tunnel all day long, a few always coming indoors to

roost.”



An extremely rare bird has been shot near Beverley. We wish it had

not been shot. It was a specimen of Macqueen’s Bustard. We believe that

only one or two have hitherto been recorded in this country, and very few

on the Continent. It is, properly, an Asiatic species.



Mrs. Phillips (of Forest Hill) has a nest of two young Cordon Bleus,.

three days old. The eggs were hatched almost entirely by the cock, the

hen taking but little interest in them, and only sleeping in the nest at

night. It will be recollected that in the Magazine for last Juty, Mr.

Catleugh recorded the hatching of a nest of Cordon Bleus which lived for

ten days. Some few years ago Miss Bamford had three young birds of this

species which survived for fourteen days. It is believed that some English

aviculturists have succeeded in rearing this bird to maturity, but we cannot

find any detailed account of the event.



The actual rearing of a young Avadavat (Sporcsginthus amandava),.

related by Mr. Todd in the Magazine for November, is an extremely rare

event in this country. They have frequently been bred in Germany, but

very seldom in*England. The Rev. C. D. Farrar bred them in an outdoor

aviary in 1895, and this is the only other instance we know of. Mr. Todd

is to be heartily congratulated 011 his success.



The members of our Society are very devoted to their feathered

friends, but we question whether many of them would carry their devotion

so far as did a certain clergyman, who was greatly interested in the nest¬

building of a pair of Tits. He believed the Tits to be very much in want

of hair with which to complete their nest, and having no other hair to give

them, he cut off his unusually fine beard and laid it on the window-sill of

his dressing-room. He had the satisfaction of seeing his beard speedily

woven into the nest. Mr. G. D. Leslie, R.A. relates the story on the

authority of a Bishop, so it ought to be true.



Birds, when perching, always keep their heads towards the wind.

The direction of the wind may frequently be told by watching the position

of birds.



