56



[The above letter appeared in Fur and Feather of the ioth December, and

the following answer in the same paper on the 17th December, 1896.]


Referring to the letter by Mr. Fnlljames in yonr issue of the iotli

inst., I regret to say that the manager of the Costal Palace Company has

withdrawn his promise to insert the Avicultural Society’s rule in the schedule

of the Crystal Palace Show. Mr. Fulljames’ letter, no doubt, assisted in

bringing this about, but I think the manager’s acftiou has been mainly due

to the interference of some of the judges, who seem not to be content with

their judicial functions, but to aim at legislative powers also.


The Avicultural Society’s rule was drawn up mainly with a view to

the general purposes of the Society, and its application to Bird Shows is of

merely secondary importance. It was, however, drawn up by a Special

Committee of our Council, after the most careful consideration of the whole

question, and that Special Committee unanimously rejected a proposal to

draw up a separate and independent list for show purposes. The objection

to a different list for show purposes is that it would have the effedt of ex¬

cluding from the British classes at shows birds which are always recognised

as British species—we should then have a new riddle—“When is a British

Bird not a British Bird ? ” Answer: “ When it is at a Bird Show.” There

is already a good deal that is illogical and unscientific about our Shows, and

we do not want to make them more absurd.


The objectors to the Avicultural Society’s rule seem to be under the

impression that it would lead to the flooding of the British classes with

birds which have hitherto been excluded from those classes—I think I can

shew that this a mistake. For all practical purposes British Cage Birds may

be considered as belonging to one or the other of two orders, and those two

orders, under our rule, include 115 species. Of these, S5 are recognised as

British by everyone, and could not possibly be excluded from any list; one

of the others (the Alpine Swift), is not a Cage Bird, so that there are only

29 as to which there can be any dispute. These 29 are : White's Thrush,

the Black Redstart, the Bluethroat, the Barred Warbler, the Firecrest, the

Marsh Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, the Alpine Accentor, the White Wagtail, the

Blue-lieaded Yellow Wagtail, the Tawny Pipit, Richard’s Pipit, the Golden

Oriole, the Great Grey Shrike, the Woodchat Shrike, the Waxwing, the

Redbreasted Flycatcher, the Mealy Redpoll, the Two-barred Crossbill, the

Ortolan Bunting, the Dapland Bunting, the Rose-coloured Starling, the Nut¬

cracker, the Crested Dark, the Short-toed Lark, the Shore Lark, the Roller,

the Bee-eatei - , and the Hoopoe. Of these species the Black Redstart, the

Marsh Warbler, the White Wagtail, the Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail, the

Golden Oriole, the Woodchat Shrike, and the Hoopoe, breed in this country ;

it would, therefore, be obviously preposterous to exclude them from any list

of British Birds. The Fire-crested Wren, the Mealy Redpoll, the Lapland

Bunting, and the Roller, have all been caught in considerable numbers.

Thus only 7 iS species are left as to which there can be any possible doubt. And

it must not be strpposed that the inclusion of these 18 species in the British

classes is an innovation, for during the last five years three of the 18

(namely, the Waxwing, the Shore Lark, and the Great Grey Shrike), have

been exhibited at the Palace as British Birds. Moreover, three other species,

not British under the Avicultural Society’s rule, have been so exhibited.

These last are the Serin Finch, the Black-headed Bunting, and the Scarlet

Grosb eak. On the other hand, only two of these doubtful species—the



