go



good many feathers from one side of the body in a patch : this

would have been considered a serious blemish in the eyes of

some judges and should certainly, if possible, be avoided by

exhibitors of white birds ; Mr. Smith’s pair well deserved the

second place. I was amused to see that the low price which I

put upon my pied birds caused them to be snapped up quite early

in the day.


Class 105. In the Class for Weavers and Whydahs, our

friend Mr. Fulljames, who seems to make a speciality of these

birds, had things pretty much to himself: his hong-tailed

Whydali was in good form and clean ; though, being a

young bird, it has not yet attained its full colouring. Mr.

Housden’s birds were more matured in colouring, but almost

too recently imported to stand a chance of winning against the

more perfedt and cleaner bird ; next year they may prove

dangerous opponents. Mr. Fulljames’ Crimson-banded Whydali

was a healthy young bird ; curiously enough only just coming

into breeding plumage, at this season, when most Whydahs have

either just lost or are beginning to lose their summer dress : his

Yellow-shouldered Whydali and Taha Weaver were both good

examples of interesting species.


Class 106. This was a very good class, in which Mr.

Fulljames again figured largely : his Australian Fire-finches

were a very nice pair, and I was sorry to see that the hen looked

out of sorts ; I hope she may have recovered later in the day ;

his Cordon Bleus and Rufous-backed Mannikins were also in

excellent form, as also were Mr. Housden’s Red-headed Finches,

as nice a pair as I have seen. Mr. Maxwell’s birds were all

very good, but few persons present could recognise Dufresne’s

Waxbills under the fearful misprint of “ Drefree’s ” ; Mr.

Watson’s Rufous-tailed Grass-finches were not a bad pair by

any means ; but—the gem of the class, and well worthy of a

double first, was Mr. Castellan’s charming male Violet-eared

Waxbill. May we all some day have many such !


The two next classes always irritate me ; they have no

business amongst our tropical pets ; they are a vain repetition

of British species in the Foreign sedition of the show, and ought

to be classed as 84A Continental examples, 85A Continental

examples. I did not at all approve of the judging of the Gold¬

finches; all the prize birds were very steady, but extremely dull

in colour, almost as dull as hens. The wildest bird in the class

was far and away the best bird, and, should it live to grow tame,

will doubtless carry off all the firsts in future years. It was



