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that one’s hair almost stands upright with the shock : apart from

this there is nothing objectionable about him, and he will stop

diredtly he is spoken to.


He holds everything in his feet when eating (generally

the left foot) and he is a remarkably good climber, for he will

walk up the side of his cage holding on with his feet alone, and

carrying a piece of orange or other fruit in his beak.


I should like to know if anything has been discovered

regarding the sex of this Parrakeet, as, according to Dr. Greene’s

<l Parrots in Captivity,” that gentleman supposed P. splendens to

be the female, because no female of P. persojiata or male of

splendens had been recorded ; though in his description of the

latter he abandons the theory, and describes the female of

P. splendens.


The Masked Parrakeet is a native of the Fiji Islands, and,

in my opinion, a beautiful and most desirable bird.


THE FLAME-SHOULDERED MARSH-TROUPIAL.


Agelasticus humeralis.


By Arthur G. Butler, Ph.D.


This bird is a native of Cuba, and is nearly related to the

Yellow-shouldered Marsh-Troupial. As I was called to account

for altering the trivial name of the Spotted Pardalote for the

benefit of aviculturists, I do not doubt that I shall be severely

reprimanded for applying the generic name proposed by Cabanis

to the group of yellow-shouldered birds : I will therefore at once

explain that, as an aviculturist, I am entirely opposed to the

union in one genus of the thick-billed, extremely wild forms

typical of Agelceus, with the more slender, longer-billed and con¬

fiding forms for which Cabanis proposed the name of Agelasticus.

The latter are far more nearly related to the Hang-nests

in their method of feeding; for I find that they do far

better (in captivity at any rate) if fed precisely like Hang-nests

than as I first treated them—on insects and seeds, and in their

form they much more closely resemble true Starlings, than the

red-shouldered and brown-headed forms of the genus Agelmis,

all of which are considerably more like Cow-birds.


I had two males of the common Yellow-shouldered Marsh-

Troupial in 1S94, and fed them chiefly on seed, giving a little

soft food now and then but no fruit: neither of them lived

many months.



