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habits to that of our English Wagtails ; it is, however, a con¬

siderably larger bird, being about the size of a Thrush, and

would, I should think, be well worth keeping by those members

who have sheltered outdoor aviaries.


A splendid specimen of the Sun Bittern (Emypyga helias ),

was also on view, spreading its wings, with their gorgeous tints,

to such sun as finds its way through the mist of a clear (?)

Eondon November day.



CORRESPONDENCE.



BREEDING OF THE AFRICAN FIREFINCH.


Sir, —I think the few following notes on the successful nesting of the

African Firefinch, in an unheated garden-aviary (a mere shed, fully exposed

at its southern side, and with an open wire flight) will not be uninteresting

to many of our members.


I have had a pair of these birds for the past two years, aud last season

the) r spent most of their time out of doors, and, whilst there, built, laid

eggs, but did not incubate. They were brought into the house on October

15th, and were not put out again until April 3rd, of this year. They went

to nest again, but it was not until July 29th that a fully-fledged young one

left the nest : it was then exactly nineteen days old, and in plumage it

resembled the adult female, with a black beak aud dark legs, but showed

considerably more red on the rump and tail than she did, but less than its

father ; from this I concluded it must be a young cock—which it eventually

proved to be. To-day, as I write (Oct. 14th) it is almost in full colour, and

has the red beak.


The parents again nested, and brought off another young one on

Sept. 17th. This last one differed considerably from its elder brother, in

being much greyer in colour and having less red on the rump aud tail, than

its mother. It appears, therefore, that the sexes are easy to distinguish,

even when quite young.


It is worthy of notice, considering the hot-liouse treatment this

species is supposed to require, that the maximum temperature during the

day-time, when this last young one left the nest, was as low as 42 0 Fahr.,

aud fell during the night to 36T The cold weather we have had recently

seems not to affedt them in the least; they are out at the time of writing,

and the temperature, on more than one occasion, has been as low as 260.

This speaks well for the hardiness of the species, when once acclimatised.


The size of the aviary is 12 feet by 6 feet and rather more than 6 feet

high, and contains, besides about a score of other small birds, six Red-

rump Parrakeets. G. Ee C. Grace.


SEXES OF PENNANT PARRAKEETS.


Sir, —I am afraid Mr. Farrar is very far indeed from proving his case.


The female Pennant, as several of our members have correctly stated,.



