It does seem a puzzle to guess what a bird may feed on in the wild

state, who will only thrive on boiled potatoes in captivity.


If I had Tuis again, I should try one on a diet of meal)' potatoes

mashed with plenty of moist sugar, and another on mashed mealy potatoes

mixed with condensed milk.


What may be sufficient nourishment in New Zealand may just be a

trifle deficient in our English climate.


It is hoped that this pretty and interesting bird may be seen in future

more often in the hands of amateurs, and reward their care by endurance

and robust health.


Communications, such as Mr. Whvtehead’s, of practical experience in

keeping birds which are reputed delicate, will earn the thanks of all lovers

of foreign cage birds. AUG. F. WEINER.



PARROT FINCHES.


Sir, —These beautiful birds have been mentioned in several of the

recent numbers of the Magazine, and as I was unable to procure a pair until

last year, I have been much interested in the correspondence concerning

them. I have, at present, four specimens — two an undoubted pair (now

nesting) — the other two, much younger, are supposed to be a pair, and I

think tlie) r are.


1 fully concur with all that has been said regarding the difficulty in

distinguishing the sexes. In my undoubted pair, they are as near alike in

plumage “ as two peas in a pod if there is any difference, the hen is the

brighter and better looking bird of the two. In the other pair, not yet in

adult feather, the one supposed to be the cock has more red on its head

and throat than the presumed hen, but as neither are yet adult, and the

supposed cock may be the older of the two, the extra amount of red mark¬

ing it has cannot be taken as an infallible distinction of its sex. But a

marked difference — a difference I have not seen mentioned in any notes

regarding the sexes—exists in both my pairs, i.e., the legs and feet of both

the hens (the undoubted and the supposed) are much lighter in colour than

those of the cocks. I noticed this in the first (adult) pair I received, and as

it occurs again in the second pair, I am inclined to think it may be a

distinctive mark, and should like to know if the same peculiarity has been

observed by anybody else possessing undoubted pairs. I do not think size

can always be depended upon as a distinction of sex, for a friend of mine

here has also a pair—they had eggs in January or early in February, this

year — and the cock bird is the smaller of the two ; anyway, I have heard a

dozen times his pretty little note, as my male bird sings, while the other,

beyond the usual chirp, remains mute, precisely as my hen does—the

larger bird is, therefore, in all probability, the one that laid the eggs—

the hen.


A few notes as to how my adult pair have conducted themselves

since their arrival—early in October last—may interest our readers. Not

having had any experience with the species prior to then, and doubting as

to their being able to stand the winter in an outdoor aviary, I lodged them

in a small box-cage, fitted up with a box and rush nest sheltered by a small

branch, and in this cage they passed the winter, in the dining-room. A

little nesting material was also put in the cage. Towards the end of



