93



made to ‘ pay.’ ” We are afraid that there are very few members

of the Avicultural Society who have found this to be the case,

however carefully they may have followed Dr. Greene’s advice.


Dr. Greene has often declared that only True Finches

feed their young from the crop, and that this regurgitation “is the

crucial test of a finch,” y T et now, in Foreign Fancy BFds, in the

section devoted to the Zebra Finch, he tells us that “ both

parents attend to the yamng, whom they feed assiduously with

softened seed brought up from their crops.” We are very glad

to find that Dr. Greene has at last recognised the fact that not

only True Finches, but all, or almost all, small birds which feed

their young on seeds, partially digest the seed in the crop before

giving it to their young.


Foreign Fa?icy Birds contains many useful hints about

aviaries and the management of birds, and our readers will find

it well worth its very small cost, for it is really a marvel of

cheapness.


The illustrations are of very varying merit.



CORRESPONDENCE.



IS GRIT DANGEROUS TO PARROTS?


Sir, —With reference to the above subject, it would be interesting to

know if it has been proved by post-mortem examination whether wild Parrots

and Parrakeets eat grit in a natural state.


In India I believe all the members of the Parrot family are Parrakeets.

The natives of this country are very fond of keeping Parrakeets, and they

never, by any chance, give them grit. In India, I think Parrakeets are

never seen picking their food off the ground, although they may them¬

selves be on the ground to feed off a low crop like “gram.” Parrakeets in

this country, when they feed on grain, do so when it is on the stalk and in

a more or less soft condition. When caged, in India, they are generally fed

on soaked “gram,” which is soft enough to cut with the nail. It may be

that if Parrots are fed on soft food, in accordance with nature, they do not

require grit, but do require it to enable them to digest unnaturally dry

food.


Chapra-Saran, C. Harrison.


India.



SOME RARE BIRDS.


Sir, —The following notes may interest some of our members, as well

as be the means of getting at the proper names of the birds.


With reference to the Yellowish Weaver shown at the Palace—Class

107, No. 1644—I have had four pairs of them, but only one hen lived. The

first two pairs cost about 10s. 6d. a pair, the others 7s. 9d. a pair. The

first I bought as Indian Bottle-nosed Weavers; the others as Golden

Sparrows, which name suits the birds better, as the cocks are a deep rich



