6g



FOREIGN BIRDS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE


SHOW OF 1896.


By C. S. Simpson.


The number of entries in each department, Canaries,

British birds and Foreign birds was less than in 1S95, the drop

being most marked in the British classes.


In the classes provided for Foreign birds the number of

entries in the classes provided respectively for the small finches

and the insectivorous birds was almost precisely the same as last

year : there was an increase in the number of Doves exhibited,

and a diminution in the number of Cardinals and Virginian

Cardinals: it is worthy of note, however, that the large entry of

the latter birds in 1895 was quite exceptional, and therefore

could not fairly justify the retention of a class usually so poorly

filled. The number of Parrots and Parrakeets was pradtically

the same as last year. The alterations in the classification of the

seCtion judged by myself have been the cause of a good deal of

criticism, both adverse and favourable, and I may therefore

perhaps be pardoned if I allude briefly to the subjeCt.


The modern aviculturist is becoming alive to the faCt that

aviculture has been too long divorced from scientific ornithology,

and that an elementaiy knowledge, at least, of the latter science,

adds an infinity of interest to the former pursuit. We no longer

tolerate the careless and inaccurate writing which characterized

even the most popular of avicultural works a very few years ago.

It therefore seems desirable that we should at our principal

shows adopt a classification which, at any rate in its broader out¬

lines, should indicate the real relationship of the birds, instead of

merely sorting them out according to size. My twelve classes

therefore are divided as follows: four are allotted to the great

family Ploceidae (weaving finches): four to the Fringillidse

(finches, grosbeaks and buntings) : one to be Columbidse (doves) :

of the remaining three classes, one is allotted to the Crows,

Starlings, and Mynahs : one contains the Tanagers and Bulbuls :

and the last is a refuge for any other species. Of course an

arrangement which brings together Tanagers and Bulbuls is

frankly unscientific, but it seems impossible to place the former

with their true relatives, the finches.


It was distinctly encouraging to find that the arrangement

appeared to be understood by most exhibitors, and that very few

birds were entered in wrong classes.



