Ill



I know that it pays to wait — unless you have the purse of a

Rothschild.


Some years ago, the late Mr. Anton H. Jamrach, knowing my love

for the smallest of the foreign imported birds, would write to me when he

had any rare consignment. It was early in 1884 he asked me to call and see

some tiny Finches from Madagascar. He had never seen them before, and did

not know their name. I found on my arrival at his place, two pairs of wee,

broadly-built Finches, distinguished by a circular mark about the size of a

three-penny piece on the throat, that looked as black as an ink-spot in the

dimness of the travelling cage. He asked four guineas a pair. I was afraid

to risk this sum for them, and brought back with me a pair of Bourke’s

Parrakeets for the same money.


On the 30th April, 1884, I again heard from Mr. Jamrach as follows: —

“ Enclosed is the name of the Madagascar Finch, Spermestes nana-, habitat,

Madagascar. I don’t think I shall ever get them again, as it was by chance

from an orchid collector who was in the interior of Madagascar. . . . ”


I11 November, 1893 — nearly ten years after—-a dealer advertised

“ Black-Throated Finches from Zanzibar,” 7/6 per pair. 1 at once secured

a pair which proved to be Spermestes nana, and they are still in as good

condition as when they were purchased.


This proves that “Fverytliing comes to the man who waits.”


W. T. CATEEUGH.



“AMONG BRITISH BIRDS IN THEIR NESTING HAUNTS.”


Sir, — I send you a prospectus of a forthcoming book on the eggs of

British Birds, entitled “Among British Birds in their Nesting Haunts.”

Illustrated by the Camera, by Oswin A. J. Tee.


The prospectus seems to hold out much promise of a work on British

Oology, unique in the fidelity of its illustration. Most of us possess books

on the eggs of British Birds, more or less beautifully and elaborately

illustrated, but in all that I know great latitude has been given to the artist’s

fancy. Mr. Tee has the unusual advantage of being at once an ornithologist

and photographer and a daring climber, and to judge from a specimen

illustration there seems every prospect of his book being a treasure to

every lover of British Birds and their eggs. I must say that I should have

preferred some scientific order in the arrangement of the plates.


O. Ernest Cressweee.



THE QUAIL FINCH.


Sir, —The bird Mr. Osbaldeston seeks to know the name of in the

April number of the Avicultural Magazine is the Quail Finch.


J. Abrahams.



