27



ing, both were at the bottoms of their cages looking thoroughly

“ done,” and both were still sleeping when I glanced at them on

the following day. I roused up the Many-coloured, and it seemed

a capital bird—but it should not have been placed before the

Musks for all that. One male Barraband supported the Polytelis,

and two Patagonian Conures the still smaller Cyanolyseus genus.

Another Conure (929—V.H.C.) is described in the catalogue as a.

Golden Crowned Parrakeet ; but Golden-crowned “ Conure ”

would have been a less misleading title for the familiar Half-moon.,


Mr. Maxwell’s “ Amazon ” (930—first) turned out on in¬

vestigation to be a couple of Rosy Rove-birds ; of Rove-birds

there were not any more, and of Amazons only a few. There

was rather a fine show of Kings and Crimson-wings, some of

them being excellent birds. The female Crimson-wings quite

often spend much of their time on the bottoms of their cages,

as most exhibitors seem to know, but the female in 834 looked

very uncomfortable standing on the gridiron of an otherwise

nice large cage ; in 842, however, the lady had the best of it, for

the male was suffering terribly from cramp up on his thick, hard

perch.


Only a small number of Cockatoos was present, of which

I liked the Readbeater best, but the Sleuder-bill was not to be

despised. The Red-sided Eclecti were in force, but the Macaws

could only muster a nice Red and Blue (S23—first) and an

ordinary Illiger. The Greys (816 and 817) were both good.

With Miss Bland’s bright little Senegal I may well wind up the

Parrots.


It goes without saying that there was a goodly number

of capital Blackbirds, Thrushes, and Starlings ; there were also

a Missel Thrush and a Jay, both rather good for caged specimens.

There were some good Nightingales and other little “ Warblers”:

I hope I shall not be hauled over the coals, as I have been before

now, for not speaking of them as “ Thrushes; ” there was a

good Swallow, too, who looked quite happy over his first prize.

The Wagtails were a poor set ; but there were some good male

Redstarts, notably Mr. S. Cook’s. Nuthatches were plentiful,

and there was one Great-spotted Woodpecker (810—first), a

Ring-Ouzel, and a Red-backed Shrike. Why the Bramble

Finches should have been regarded as non-migratory is not clear.

A Golden-crested Wren (first) and a Rong-tailed Tit (second)

were well deserving of mention and of their places. There were

several other common birds, many of them in excellent condi¬

tion, and with one of these, Mr. Francis’ Hawfinch (781—first),

which specially caught myeye, I really mustclosemyramblingtale.



