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Sir,-—A llow me a few lines in answer to Mr. Astley. He says, “ Do

not all 3'oung Australian Parrakeets resemble for the most part the adult

female when they leave the nest ?” I say, certainly of four sorts, emphatically,

No.


Young Redrumps show the cock and hen plumage at once, so do

Mealy Rosellas, so do Pennants, and so do Crimson wings. In my nest of

young Crimsonwings there were two cocks and one hen, jnst as distinct in

the red of the wing as any gdult, though only a month old.


C. D. Farrar.



Sir,—I say once more in the most emphatic manner that my birds

are Pennants and nothing else ; and anybody that likes may see them.

What more can I say ?


It is very difficult to describe the colour of a bird, in writing; and

some of the writers have wilfully exaggerated and distorted the difference

in colour I spoke of—so much so, that they actuallj’ want to make out

that I have two separate breeds, a Pennant and an Adelaide. It would be

about as sensible to say that I have a cock Pennant and a hen Mealy

Rosella, for the difference is no greater than between a cock Pennant and a

hen Adelaide.


With regard to Mr. Fillmer’s remark that I wrote black in my first

article, it was doubtless a misprint for blue owing to my bad writing.

I no doubt wrote “ blue,” but the poor printer read it into “ black.”


C. D. Farrar.


Note. —The above is only the end of a long- letter from Mr. Farrar, the former part

of which we regretfully suppress, because it seems to us unnecessarily personal.—E d.


Sir,—M r. Fillmer, for some reason best known to himself, persists in

speaking as though I had only one hen Pennant. Now he knows perfectly

well from my Notes that I must have two at least. As a matter of fact I had

three, but sold one to Mr. Oates.


Mr. Oates has two. Mr. Grace has one. He had three, but sold two

of them.


All these birds were absolutel} 7 identical in colour and plumage with

my No. 2, the mother of the j'oung ones. No. i was rather more oraugy-

red in colour.


How many hen Pennants does Mr. Fillmer require to be convinced of

identity of species ? Does he fondly imagine that Adelaides are so abundant,

that silly dealers sell them to the unsuspecting ones as hen Pennants ?

Fond delusion ! Ask Mr. Abrahams ! I wish I could light on five Adelaides

on such easy terms.


Mr. Fillmer saj _ s, “ We admitted that Mr. Farrar’s female (observe the

singular number) is a true example, etc.,”—he is as far off as ever from

proving that all females differ from the male as his does.


Now I have produced six common hen Pennants, not one; all exactly

like my No. 2, except the first I wrote about, which was rather more

orangy-red in her colour , and yet I am calmly told they are Adelaides.


I leave it to our readers if I have not proved my case up to the hilt

against Mr. Fillmer and Dr. Butler. The six birds are common hen

Pennants, and the offspring of my pair are common or garden Pennants,

and not Mongrel Pennant Adelaides. C. D. Farrar.



