THE



Hvicultural /ISba^asine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



NO. 5. MARCH, 1895.



BRITISH BIRDS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE SHOW.


I.


By Arthur G. Butter, Ph. D., &c.


It is a thankless office to be a judge at any Show, and still more so to

criticise the decisions of a judge : nevertheless, I have been asked to give

some account of the British Birds at the Palace, and I find that I cannot do

so without expressing my private opinion, which is, that the judging of the

different Classes was not uniformty good : in some cases the best bird was

recognised, in others—? The catalogue states that “ Preference in judging

will be given to recognised Cage-moulted Specimens.” Yet in the Bullfinch

Class the Extra Third alone of all the prize-winners was recognisable as

Cage-moulted ; all the others had blackish legs and were unnecessarily wild.

I should certainly have awarded First to No. 1240, a grand steady bird, with

fine cap and bright colouring, and Second to No. 1235, neither of which birds

was noticed. The judging of the Goldfinches, though more difficult on

account of the size of the Class, was decidedly better, Mr. Davies’ bird was

decidedly good and deserved its position ; No. 1285, though steadier, should

have been superseded by Major Fisher’s bird (No. 1301) which was far finer

in colouring, with brighter and broader blaze.


The Chaffinches were judged much as usual—the First (Mr. Winter’s

bird), was best in colouring, but had a droop in the wings, which rather

spoilt it; the Second was good, but too wild, and the Third was not entitled

to any notice ; wh) r birds of the previous year, which have not acquired the

green cap, long pale beak, or broad white wing-bar, should always take

Second or Third, when there are plent}^ of good adult birds to choose from,

passes my comprehension.


The Linnets formed a very large and difficult Class, and, on the whole,

the judging was satisfactory; I think, however, that the honours awarded

to Mr. Jones’ two birds might have been transposed with advantage. In the

Redpolls, the Mealies carried the prizes, the English birds being only

represented by two or three recently caught examples. By-the-way, shorild

birds which do not breed in Great Britain be admitted ? I thought it had

been decided to exclude the Serin for this very reason.


None of the Siskins were exceptionally fine birds, and I should have

been somewhat at a loss to judge them satisfactorily : there were, on the other

hand, several good Skylarks and in my opinion the first prize should have

been awarded to No. 1475, Mr. A. C. Allowaj^’s bird; No. 1479 was somewhat

too fat, and I cannot help thinking that the faCt that this bird seemed

unable to rise without elevating its crest, must have influenced the judge :

a crest gives the heaviest bird an alert appearance. Mr. Bonhote’s Robin

was, perhaps, the best of a by no means remarkable Class, it showed unusual

breadth of red on the breast, but appeared dull and listless; possibly the

cold affedted it.


There were some very handsome Blackbirds, and the prizes were fairly

earned, but Mr. Lott’s bird (No. 1517), deserved more than a simple com¬

mendation. In the Song-Thrushes, on the other hand, Mr. J. Joyner’s bird



