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were almost dun, on others faded brown, on others again reddish

brown. I think that the latter would be the more usual colour.

The bodies of most of the eggs were faintly speckled, the spots

being mostly gathered at the thick end, running into and

joining one another, sometimes forming a circle with a clear

centre.


Amongst the last batch was one egg of unusual size. In

olden days, having been brought up amongst the birds, in my

simplicity, I should have called this an ordinary double-yolked

egg, as I would have called an abnormally small egg a yolkless

one. But in these enlightened days such childish ideas have to

be put away, and I must now recognise in this large egg the

zygodactyle foot, and deposit it in my cabinet amongst my

Cuckoos’ eggs accordingly.


On July nth, I detected a mounted male Phonipara

pusilla in one of the glass cases at the Natural History Museum

at South Kensington. It was described as a Yellow-throated

Seed Finch from Mexico. It was the only specimen on view of

the genus Phonipara , but was in the company of Volatinia

jacarina and Sperniophila lineola , both of which were also called

Seed Finches, a name which, as regards these two, is not generally

accepted. In the Zoological Society’s Fist, not one species of

the genus Phonipara is called a Seed Finch, the name being

reserved in the List for the genus Oryzoborus. Considering that

the Finches generally, and many other birds, eat seed, it is not

clear to me why a select few should be styled Seed-eaters and

Seed Finches.


For Phonipara pusilla (little), the name of either Little

Finch, or Yellow-throated Finch, if not already appropriated,

would do very well.


THE FEEDING OF PARROTS.


By the Hon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton.


Since writing my last notes, two rather rare Amazons

have come into my possession, Chrysotis augusla and C. boitqueti.

It may be well to say something about them, before I go on to

the next species which will be Pionus. But I wish to see more

of them before I say anything about their ways, and there is a

subject of vital interest to all parrot keepers which I might say

something about, and that is the question of food.


In this matter it must be understood that I am simply

giving the results of experience—my own and others’. Though



