136



THE PRICES OF FOREIGN BIRDS ; THE SONGS OF

FOREIGN BIRDS.


Sir, — I should be glad if some experienced aviculturist (in next

month's Magazine, or the month after, now foreign birds are getting

plentiful) would issue a list of the present market value of healthy

specimens of the different species of foreign birds, stating their relative

merits as songsters, whether good, bad, or indifferent. I have just been

much disappointed with a Pekin Robin — I find his song is not nearly as

good as that of our English Robin, although it is described by one of

the dealers as equal to that of the Blackcap or ordinary Nightingale ;

and the Virginian Nightingale, so-called, has nothing of a song, and

yet the dealers describe him as a beautiful whistler.


I have gained much valuable information from the Avicultural

Magazine, and I hope to gain a great deal more.


A. Jones.


The following reply was sent to Mr. Jones : —


It is quite impossible to compl}' with your request. The prices of

birds vary from day to day, and are governed, like the prices of other

commodities, by the laws of supply and demand. By watching the dealers'

advertisements a fair idea of the current price of the commoner species can

be formed — there is no regular price for the rarer birds. The Shania and the

Pekin Robin are generally considered to be about the best songsters among

the insectivorous foreign birds, and the Grey-singing Finch and the Alario

Finch the best among the foreign seed-eaters. But the respective merits of

songsters is largelj^ a matter of opinion, and individuals of the same species

differ greatly. I should say that the average Pekin Robin is a better songster

than the average English Robin, though not so good as the Nightingale

or Blackcap, but this is only my personal opinion {a). I have never heard a

Virginian Cardinal which could be called a fine songster — the song of that

bird appears to me monotonous and tiresome — still, I should give it a fairly

high place among foreign birds, as most of them are still worse performers.


Horatio R. Fii,i,mer.



(n) I have had a good many pairs of this species : as a rule the males sing-

magnificently (quite as well as any Blackcap) ; but occasionally a poor songster comes

to hand. One wliich I parted with last year sang only seven notes, which may be thus

expressed tjtr-te-rur-itir ; tur-tui-tnr. — A. G. B.



