straight perch, many birds seem unable to resist the temptation to run

along it and drive all the other birds off.


Before I commenced my aviaries, the floor of the room was covered

with linoleum, and as this would have been useless for any other purpose if

I had removed it, I allowed it to remain and form the bottom of the aviaries,

and I find it makes a fairly good flooring. Match-boarding, with the smooth

side uppermost, would make a better floor, and if soft-billed birds be kept

it is better to cover the floor with sheet zinc or tin-plate. I spread fine

gravel over the floor, to the depth of about half-an-inch, and once a

fortnight I put it through a sieve sufficiently fine to retain the seed-liusks

and dirt. Every few months, the gravel is entirely removed and replaced

by fresh--it would, of course, be better to do this every fortnight; but

gravel costs me sixpence per gallon, so I can’t afford to change it so often.


I keep the seed in separate open glass vessels on the floor of the

aviaries, taking care to place them in a part where there are no over¬

hanging branches. I let my birds have a constant supply of white millet,

Indian millet, canary-seed and paddy. For water vessels, I use the old-

fashioned fountains; they require to be cleaned every few weeks, by shaking

a little gravel and water in them. A piece of cuttle-bone hangs in each

aviary.


I use cages only for sick and quarrelsome birds.


It will be seen that most of the arrangements of my bird-room would

be utterly unsuitable if it were intended to be inhabited by such birds as

are kept by Mr. Phillipps or Mr. Camps ; but for small fringilloid foreign

birds it answers very well. Its chief disadvantage is its small size, which

necessitates small aviaries ; but most of its inmates have very feeble powers

of flight, and I do not think that larger aviaries would add greatly to their

happiness.


The Secretary would be glad to hear from any Members willing to contribute to this

series.



RARE FOREIGN BIRDS.


IV.


THE CHINESE BLUE PIE.


By ReginaIvD Phittipps.


There appear to be but five well-established varieties of the Blue Pie

( Urocissa ) known to naturalists, all to be found in a tract of country com¬

prising the Himalayas, parts of Burma and Siam, China, &c. They bear a

strong family likeness to one another, and may be readily distinguished from

other species by their size, length of tail, blue or bluish colours (mostly of

the upper parts only), by the black head and neck relieved by a lighter

colour in the occipital regions, and by the brilliant orange, red, or yellow of

the bill and legs.


I have not myself heard of more than two of these varieties having

been brought alive to this country; and even these two are so rarely seen

that to the majority they are unknown, and to the few they are, for the most

part, so far unknown that, to whichever variety a specimen may happen to

belong, it is called a “ Chinese Blue Pie.” As a matter of fact, the bird most

commonly, but actually very uncommonly, met with in England, so far as

my own personal observations go, is the Siamese, or Great-billed Blue Pie,

Urocissa magnirostris. It is not of this bird, however, but of the true Chinese

Blue Pie, Urocissa erythrorhyncha, that I would now say a few words for the

benefit of my fellow avioulturists.


The only living specimen of Urocissa erythrorhyncha (often, but not so

well, called U. sinensis ) that I can positively say I have ever seen, came into

my hands more than seven years ago, and is still in the enjoyment of the

most perfect health. It is a female, and measures some 20 inches in total

length, of which the tail claims 15 inches. The head, face, neck, and upper

breast are of a rich black, relieved by a lavender-coloured stream, which



