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This year the prizes in the Foreign classes at the Palace are raised to

the same level as those in the Canary 7 classes. It is a mere adt of justice,

and ought to have been done years ago—for the entry fee has always been

the same in each case. Besides, everyone knows that the British and

Foreign Birds are the chief attraction to visitors. We really do not think

that an} 7 particular credit attaches to the Management for this tardy adt of

fairness.



The classification has been greatly improved of late years, but we are

a little dissappointed that no further advance has been made in the Schedule

for 1897. The grouping of Cuba Finches with Gouldian Finches Parrot

Finches and Pintailed Nonpareils has always struck us as somewhat strange.

The class for Grassfinches, Mannikins and Waxbills sadly wants dividing—

of course any division between these groups would have to be a little

arbitrary, though the Mannikins, at any rate, are fairly well defined. But it

is the Parrot classes which are now most open to criticism. The Love-birds

are still, apparently, considered to be neither short-tailed nor long-tailed.

Lories and Lorikeets can only be shown singly, but Parrakeets can be

shown in pairs. Greys, Amazons, Eclecti, and Cockatoos must be single,

while other short-tailed Parrots may be in pairs. And in spite of the cor¬

respondence in our columns last spring, the quaint wording which, apparently,

excludes Macaws, and classes the Slender-billed Cockatoo with the Parrots,

is still retained. It would not have been much trouble to remove these

anomalies, and it would seem as if some of them are retained out of sheer

perverseness.



We have no wish to say any more, at present, about the absence from

the Schedule of any definition of that very elastic term “British Bird.”

But w r e should like to know the precise meaning intended to be conveyed

by the expression “ Birds of Passage and Migratory Birds.” Are “ Birds of

Passage” the same as “Migratory Birds,” or are they not? Fhom the use of

the word “and ” it would seem that they are not. Then, are “Birds of

Passage and Migratory Birds” included among the British Birds? They

would certainly seem not to be so included, but to be placed by themselves

in the Schedule as if they were neither British nor Foreign ! Truly the

Schedule of the Crystal Palace Show is an ornithological conundrum.



Can anyone explain why it is that while birds in cages almost always

become infested with insedts, in spite of all precautions; yet in aviaries,

even quite small aviaries, they are almost entirely free from them ? We

have for several years had a few cages in our bird-room, and, notwithstand¬

ing constant cleansing and shifting of the birds from cage to cage, there

are always some insects about the ends of the perches after the birds have

been in them for a time. On the other hand, we can never find any 7

traces of these pests in the aviaries in the same room, except behind the

nest-boxes in the summer. We have a theory of our own which offers a

possible explanation, but we are afraid to make it public until it has been

confirmed by further observation.



