II



bered that the young birds have the entire crown crimson ; in the

adult male there is a patch of crimson at the back of the head,

the crown being black. In the adult female there is no trace of

red on the back of the head or neck.


The winner of the first prize, and its next door neighbour,

were illustrations of how a Woodpecker should, and how it

should not, be exhibited. Mr. Barnes’ beautiful female, which

well deserved her first prize, was shown in a very suitable cage

in which an artificial log of cork-bark had been fixed. With this

the bird was perfectly happy and contented ; and it was most

entertaining to watch it take a nut from the food-tin and insert

it carefully in a hole in the log, where, with rapid and powerful

blows from its bill, the shell was soon smashed and the kernel

was quickly devoured. The other, No. 236, which one could not

help pitying and comparing its surroundings with those of its

neighbour, was not, in itself, a bad specimen ; but it was a great

pity that its owner was not better acquainted with the nature of

a Woodpecker than to send it to a Show in a cage made for a

Norwich Canary. The poor creature kept trying in vain to climb

the sides of its prison, where it could obtain no foothold, and,

when it hopped on to its perch, it fell backwards upon its tail,

until, finally, it gave up all attempts at perching, and lay down

on the bottom of its cage.


A lovely Missel Thrush, very tame and absolutely perfect,

was deservedly second, and another of the same species, and

almost equally good, took the third prize ; the fourth going to

another Great Spotted Woodpecker.


Class 18 contained a fine collection of Nightingales, and it

was not easy to say which was the best bird : personally, I

preferred the winner of the second prize to the one awarded first.

A nice Blackcap was fourth.


Some very interesting birds were exhibited in the class for

smaller Migrants. It was most unfortunate that those entered by

Mr. George Jeffre}^ did not arrive until just before the Show was

opened to the public, and, consequently, much too late for

competition. The winner of the first prize was by far the best

Yellow Wagtail that I remember to have seen ; it was sent by

Mr. Wm. Cullen, and claimed at the Catalogue-price of £$ 5s. 6d.

A Whinchat. was awarded an extra first prize ; Miss Hopwood’s

Wheatear was a good second. There were some very beautiful

Redstarts : one exceptionally fine specimen, shown by Mr.

Maxwell, obtained an extra second prize; a Spotted Flycatcher,



