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He is fed chiefly on Mr. Abrahams’ mixture for insectivorous

birds, but he loves mealworms and small pieces of fresh raw

beef, with chopped up lettuce in the summer-time. He is always

strong and full of vigorous life, with a flight when out of his

cage as rapid and quick as any wild one, neither has he a feather

out of place.


The sketch I have done, though of course unworthy of

the original, is taken from life. Although of a deep slate blue

all over, his whole head, especially in the spring-time, is of a

much paler tint, which may be likened to china blue, and his

eyes are edged with a narrow yellow skin. He is about the size

of a Song Thrush, but his head and bill are longer and narrower.

I have successfully reared a brood of five of these birds in their

native country, and consider them easy to manage from the very

first. I shall never be without a Blue Thrush, if I can help

it, as long as I live.



ON SEXUAL DISTINCTIONS IN FINCHES WHICH

ARE SIMILARLY COLOURED IN BOTH SEXES.



By Arthur G. Butrer, Ph.D., etc.


Illustrated by the Author.


Many years ago I used to be astonished at the ease and

certainty with which Mr. Joseph Abrahams selected the sexes

of birds, in which I could discover no difference of colour or

pattern ; and I invariably asked him by what characters he

decided the sex of an individual.


Mr. Abrahams, discovering that I was of an enquiring

turn of mind, never hesitated to give me the information which

I sought; merely stipulating that should I ever make any of his

secrets public, I should give him the credit of having imparted

them : this, in common honesty, I should certainly have done in

any case, for apart from the fact that credit should always be given

where it is due, the gain of the information which I acquired, by

rendering it at first possible and in course of time tolerably easy

to sex some of the most puzzling birds, has been considerable.


One of the most valuable features of the instruction

which I received from this experienced naturalist consisted in

his method of making me not only use my own e}^es to try and

discover differences for myself, but in asking me questions

tending to call out my powers of reasoning. Thus, the first

point to be settled was : If there is no difference in the plumage.



