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geese, which, of course, require a larger place and a great deal

of grass.


Personally, I cau only keep one pair of ducks at a time,

the space at my disposal being very limited. At present I have

a pair of Summer ducks, usually known to dealers as Carolinas ;

they are exquisitely pretty and very hardy. At the present time

(May 15th) they are busily searching for a nesting place ; they

are quite tame, but know a stranger at once.


In conclusion, let me say that I know of one book only

011 this subjefit, and that should be in the possession of all

interested in the Anatidce ; the title is “ Ornamental Waterfowl,”

and it is written by the Hon. Rose Hubbard, who, by the way,

is a member of our Society.



A CHAFFINCH SINGING MATCH.


By Albert Rettich.


Some years ago, when writing for some foreign weeklies,

I gave an account of a Rondon Chaffinch Singing Match, which

met with some approval, and it has occurred to me that a

translation might perhaps be of interest to the readers of the

Avicultural Magazine .


The natural song of the Chaffinch, in spite of its brevity

and consequent iteration, finds many admirers in all countries.

Man, however, is constantly endeavouring to improve upon

Nature, and although in some directions his efforts had better

not have been made, yet it must be admitted that the song of

many wild birds can be trained to please the human ear better than

Nature’s teaching.


Scarcely any two wild Chaffinches sing alike ; the caged

nestlings are therefore trained to imitate the songs of two or

three different old birds, neither of whose strains resembles the

others. Clever youngsters learn to sing each of the several

songs in turn, thus combining in one bird the vocal powers of

them all. Such accomplished songsters as these are greatly

appreciated by the amateur ; but they are not used in singing

matches, points in such competitions being awarded only for the

frequency with which the bird repeats the one strophe of his

natural song ; and a champion “battler” at singing matches would

by 110 means be a desirable cage - bird: the objectionable

reiteration of only one short strophe having been encouraged

to such an extent, that a really good “ match-singer ” will repeat

the same “ lay” some 250 times in a quarter of an hour, which is

the ordinary time limit of singing matches.



