3°



for Continental birds. To my mind the nicest British bird in

the Show was the Wryneck, shewn by Mr. Fulljames, which was

about as perfect a specimen as one could wish to see, and seemed

perfectly reconciled to its life in captivity.


The class for Continental birds was well filled, and con¬

tained some really charming specimens, the most interesting

perhaps, being a magnificent Hoopoe. This was closely followed

by a fine Black Woodpecker, in good condition ; certainly a very

rare cage bird. There were also in this class some very nice Rock-

thrushes, both of the Blue and common species, and a lovely

Blue-throat.


The Foreign section contained some remarkably good

birds, several of which, most of us had never before seen in

a living state.


Mr. Fulljames’ pretty Resplendent Wliydah was in

capital show form, and looked very neat. There was a good pair

of Bathilda ruficauda, a species which I hope, ere long, may

again be imported. A single specimen of Pytelia afra was

shewn by Mr. Hawkins; and Mr. Fulljames sent a nice pair

of Firefinch.es (L ago no s tic ta), but I cannot say to which species

they belonged.


In the class for Gouldians, Parrot-finches, and Pintail

Nonpareils, there was a pair of Gouldians, in which the hen had

just as much red about her head as the cock ; this was, I think,

the finest pair of Red-headed Gouldians I have ever seen. There

were two good pairs of Tri-coloured Parrot-finches, and one

pair of the less rare, but to my mind, far handsomer Common

Parrot-finches.


The most interesting bird in the class for other Grass-

finches was a Bicheno-Zebra-finch hybrid, an extremely pretty

novelty, though I doubt whether, strictly speaking, it should

have been allowed to compete in this class. A good pair of

Masked Grassfinches were worth notice, as were some well shewn

Bichenos, and two or three pairs of Tong-tailed Grassfinches, one

pair of the latter being aviary-bred and still in their nest-

feathers.


There were some lovely Tanagers, including the Blue¬

headed, a charming bird ; the Bluish, Black, and one or two

others. A very nice pair of the Australian Grey-backed

Zosterops was also shewn. Starlings were fairly well represented,

the small Gloss} r , Purple-lieaded, Andaman, Black-headed, and

Malabar being shewn, and all in excellent condition.



