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differs from the male in its slightly inferior size, rounder head, and duller

crimson colouring. Neither sex of the Pennant has the central tail-feathers

wholly pure blue; if closely examined, it will be seen that the inner webs

are shot with bluish-green. The Adelaide Parrakeet in no respect resembles

a Mealy Rosella : it is chiefly of a brick- or orange-red colour, with similar

pattern and arrangement of colours to those of P. elegans . but the whole of

the tints are paler and the central tail-feathers are considerably greener.

How Salvadori came to describe the tail as resembling that of P. elegans I

do not pretend to explain, for none of the specimens with which he worked

can be correctly described as having a “ tail as in P. elegans.'’


Mr. Farrar’s argumeut that five Adelaides could not be picked up on easy

terms is plausible ; but rare birds are sometimes offered on easy terms, as I

know from experience : some five or six years ago, I picked a little bird out

of a lot offered by a London dealer at three shillings apiece, and a year

later the same man was offering a specimen at a sovereign, and declaring

that he had never before seen a living specimen ; my bird is still living, and

in perfect plumage. I have heard of many similar instances.


Undoubtedly it is the business of a dealer to recognize a rare bird

when he sees one, but man} 7 of them do not. In Germany the Adelaide

Parrakeet is not accounted rare, and Russ states that its price is the same as

that of the Pennant Parrakeet. A. G. Butler.



Sir, — I have no intention of continuing the controversy with Mr,

Farrar, but I must, for the sake of those of your readers who have never

seen the Adelaide Parrakeet, take exception to his comparison of the

difference between a Pennant and an Adelaide with that between a Pennant

and a Mealy Rosella. The Adelaide looks like a washed-out Pennant, while

the Mealy Rosella and the Pennant differ in colouring almost as much as a

Grey Parrot and an Amazon. Horatio R. Fieemer.



BROWN-AND-WHITE BENGALESE, AND STRIATED FINCH.


Sir, —The nest of five young from a Brown-and-White Bengalese hen

mated to a Striated Finch (concerning which you said it would be interesting

to note what they were like, Milieu they left the nest) have done so for about

a week.


Three of them are exactly like the Striated Finch—not a single white

feather to be seen. The other two have a little white, over the beak, on the

breast, and a few white feathers in the wings—one bird rather more than

the other. R. M. Barber.



BICHENO’S FINCH.


Sir, — I have been fortunate enough to have bred in my bird-room, a

Bicheno’s or Double-banded Finch. As I write, the young one is in good

health and well on seed. From two pairs of these birds, quite a wholesale

number of eggs have been laid, but only one bird has been successfully

hatched and reared. G. D. G.



